


Fate/Golden Order

by The_Distorted_Shadow



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Multi, Slice of Life, Slow To Update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-03 08:01:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 40,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14564556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Distorted_Shadow/pseuds/The_Distorted_Shadow
Summary: A Good Mood. That was all it took to change the course of human history... when it caused the King Of Heroes to make the decision to once again become a King and rule over mankind with the aid of his new Golden Order.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone.  
> For those who haven't read my profile, this is actually something that has already been posted on Fanfiction.net for a while now.  
> And I just decided to post my things here as well.  
> Also, just to be clear, I put the rating as Mature just to be on the safe side more than anything else, so it might not be explicit enough for the rating, but I feel more comfortable with it anyway.  
> But anyway... I suppose I should just shut up and let you get on with the story.

He took a deep breath as he stepped out of the airport terminal and into the open air once again.

It was nice to smell relatively fresh air once again but he would work on that once he had set everything up properly.

To think, not long ago he had been confident that humanity was hopeless and worthy of nothing more than total destruction… but the past several years had opened his eyes.

Humanity may have been corrupted over the past several thousand years, it may have lost the strength it once needed… but the world itself had lost most of its power and humanity was slowly but surely cutting itself free from the shackles that had been placed on it four thousand years ago.

Beyond that, he had spent much time travelling and despite the issues the world was facing, he could see the spark of creation in the eyes of the humans, their artistic talents overtaking their need to build just to survive.

His previous judgement had been too hasty… he would give them a chance to prove themselves.

First however, was getting rid of the garbage that had invaded his world.

Dead Apostles, Demons, Aristotles and more plagued this world and he wasn’t going to tolerate them any longer.

The Church and the Mages Association clearly had sections dedicated to eradicating those pests but he could honestly say that it was time a more thorough measure was taken against them.

First however, he needed to make sure his people wouldn’t be wiped out in the next few months.

That was why he had once again returned to the place where it had all started.

Fuyuki City.

Where the Fourth Grail War had taken place… the war he had been summoned to compete in.

For all intents and purposes, victory had been his but the Grail had been damaged by the man that was dead inside.

Well, he supposed it turned out to be a good outcome anyway, the corruption of the Grail would’ve wiped out most of humanity and while there was a certain value to that idea… there were good points to modern humans that wouldn’t survive that ordeal.

He didn’t bother rushing as he made his way to the Ryuudou Temple, sure he wouldn’t be returning to the man that had served as his master in the latter part of the last war, but he had more important things to take care of.

Plus, that man wouldn’t be particularly receptive of his new decision even if it wouldn’t result in his death.

It didn’t matter in the end, but at least the empty shell of a priest could die unknowing that the suffering that filled the hole in his heart would be undone by the very partner he once worked for.

For now, he only had one goal.

To return to his duty and give humanity the king it needed once again.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

The Greater Grail.

It was something he had previously dismissed as useless but now he knew the truth.

It was corrupt.

It was broken.

It could wipe out all of humanity if unleashed.

And he wouldn’t tolerate the broken vessel that existed before him any longer.

This would certainly be easier for him if he had been summoned into the Caster Class but he wasn’t going to complain… he had more than enough resources and knowledge to deal with this issue appropriately despite that disadvantage.

The first course of action would be the simplest… wiping out the corrupted influence that infected the Grail.

It was a simple effect to search for, ‘A Weapon That Can Purify Evil’ and he could easily pick out hundreds of objects in his vault that fulfilled that condition.

He only needed one and so he pulled the first Holy Sword he could find from his vault.

He didn’t know the name of the sword but that didn’t matter, all it needed to do was function and it would do that without issue.

Taking the sword by the hilt, he plunged it into the ritual circle that was carved into the ground of the cavern he was in and activated the sword.

The Ritual Circle practically glowed as he used the Divine power to burn away at the existence that had infected the wish granting device, unwavering as he kept the flow of power going until finally, there was nothing left to burn away.

There was also the annoying side effect that Kotomine would be effected by what he was doing, what with how his false heart was connected to the Grail, but his death was just a necessary sacrifice for what he was doing.

Step One, Complete.

Step Two could be trickier… it would require an object capable of producing enough raw power to manifest the Grail without the Souls of Servants but the condition was yet again simple ‘An Object That Can Produce Enough Power To Force A Miracle’.

The list of viable objects was significantly shorter this time, however there were some available and he pulled on the first one that fit the desired attributes.

Pulling it free of his Vault, he looked at the object with a raised eyebrow.

It was a massive chunk of Gemstone shaped like a sword.

Dismissing the appearance he aimed it at the Ritual Circle and activated it.

The power output was impressive, impressive enough that he could honestly place it’s destructive potential as being close to Ea itself, but while his most powerful sword achieved it’s destructive power though it’s nature, this achieved it through the sheer quantity of mana it could gather and release.

The power was enough to force the Greater Grail to manifest even if it couldn’t function as it was truly intended to.

However the purpose for manifesting it was simple.

This treasure could gather immense amounts of mana without drawing from the surrounding area… and so he did something he doubted the creator of the Grail had intended.

He cut it off from the Fuyuki Leylines and connected it to the treasure from his vault.

Step Two, Complete.

Step Three would be the hardest to manage with his current class but it would still be doable.

Reprogramming the Grail.

The wish granting aspect of it was unnecessary for his purposes, beyond that, if a human has a wish that they want achieved then they should work towards achieving it under their own power… not relying on an object that would simply throw power around to achieve it.

Then there was the aspect of summoning the Servants themselves.

The restrictions that were naturally in place for what the Grail could summon were stifling, so he would lift them to allow for more interesting specimens to be summoned and in greater quantities.

As for the Servant Containers themselves… those class containers would be a good base to build off of but they were inefficient and would require a massive upkeep that would be taxing on the Magi partnered with them if they ever left the influence of the Grail.

There was a simple solution to that however.

With the power output of the new battery, it would be more than possible to manifest the servants with bodies made of Ether Clumps… bodies that wouldn’t be rejected by Gaia and would drastically cut down on their upkeep cost.

It would also remove their ability to Astralize but it was a worthwhile trade off for a more stable form.

The final aspect that would need changing would be the most important.

The selection of Masters.

Currently set to those with wishes, he would have to alter that to achieve the goals he was aiming for.

The requirement of “Magi That Are Prepared To Work Towards The Betterment Of The World For Everyone” would be more appropriate for what he was after.

And so, he focused as he started to work on making the necessary adjustments.

It wouldn’t be long before his new champions were gathered and then, then the real work would begin.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Illyasviel Von Einzbern could only release a sigh of relief as the pain finally stopped.

She was currently close to being completely alone in the forest surrounding her family’s estate with her only company being the massive bronze monster of a man that had been summoned by her not that long ago.

Herakles, the greatest of the Greek Heroes… currently manifested in the Berserker Class.

Maintaining him had been an exercise in managing excruciating pain, the strain he put on her magic circuits simply to keep around was immense and she felt like she was going to burn to ash throughout the entire ordeal.

But now the strain was mitigated.

That meant that the Grail had activated and she was now receiving assistance in maintaining Berserker.

Now, now she could travel to Fuyuki and meet the boy that stole her father from her.

She let out a small smirk at that thought, maybe she should have Berserker crush his servant, then crush his body, one limb at a time… before crushing his body and leaving the head alone for her to keep alive and mount as a trophy to prove she was the better sibling.

Yes, the sooner she could get to Fuyuki the better.

Even her grandfather wanted to wait, well, she had Berserker now so he couldn’t really argue with her anymore.

By this time tomorrow, she would make sure she was in Fuyuki, ready for the war to come.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Lord El-Melloi II could do little more than stare in shock at the back of his hand.

Why was there a set of command seals there?

He was certain that he hadn’t been selected as the representative of the Clock Tower for this upcoming Grail War… that honour lay with that Galliasta magus and the Fraga that did some jobs for the association.

Did that mean he had been selected independently of the Clock Tower?  Just like had been the last time he had travelled to Japan to participate in the Grail War?

He grimaced as he felt a powerful compulsion come over him, commanding him to go back to Fuyuki City.

That hadn’t happened the last time he had gotten his command seals and it made it perfectly clear to him that something was dramatically different this time around.

He probably should inform Reines about this.

Then again, if he informed her about this then she might decide to follow him and that could cause problems in and of itself.

Plus, the compulsion clearly meant that something was going to happen and given how the Moonlit world worked, that something could very well kill him.

Making his decision, he refrained from informing the girl that had forced him into being her ‘big brother’ and prepared to book a flight for two to Japan.

It may not have been what he wanted to do, but he wasn’t going to ignore an issue like this.

He quickly sent a message before packing for the trip, he may not let Reines come with him… but there was someone else that would be useful for the war regardless of how badly it went.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Luviagelita Edelfelt could do little more than laugh as she looked at the marking on the back of her hand.

Sure she wasn’t all that read up on the Grail War but the general basis of it was well known… including the concept of the command seals that gave them control of a Servant.

Admittedly, she didn’t know why she had been selected but she had and she was going to make her way to Fuyuki City to compete in this competition.

Well, not compete in… win.

As one of the heirs of the Edelfelt family, it was only natural that she should aim for victory in any form of battle, even if she was simply commanding those that would fight for her.

And getting to the battleground was the first priority in her mind as she packed her luggage for the journey… she would find somewhere to stay when she got there, for now she had the more important issue of getting to Fuyuki so she could summon her servant and then arrange her plans around who she summoned.

She was obviously not going to use a catalyst, while many magi considered it perfectly normal and reasonable to do so, it was also known that summoning without a catalyst would call forth the Servant most suited to the magus.

And compatibility is more important than anything when teamwork in required.

It was obvious to her however, that whoever she summoned would be the best servant in the war and she would undoubtedly emerge victorious.

What other outcome could there be?

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Her heart started to race as she noticed the markings on the back of her hand.

Command Seals for the Fuyuki Holy Grail War.

This was it.

This could be her chance to find a method of dealing with her current issue.

A single wish and everything could be undone.

Certainly, she had not expected such a convenient solution to her problem to appear for her, having long since been both desperate for a way to undo the damage done to her while simultaneously accepting the possibility that it would be impossible to neutralize.

There were several wishes she could potentially make with the Grail but the one that struck her as the most useful was simply to prevent TATARI from being created in the first place, undoing all the damage it had done… and saving both herself and her… friend?  She still wasn’t entirely sure if that was the appropriate word for their relationship but it was the closest she could think of to describe it.

She shook her head clear of those thoughts.

She had to make her way to Japan and Fuyuki City in particular before she could take any action on the situation at hand.

At least her victory was probable, there weren’t many that could calculate as many variables as she could after all and predicting her foes was a specialty of hers.

She just hoped the Church didn’t have a hit out on her in those distant lands.

Being bitten by a Vampire had certainly not helped her at all.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Bazett Fraga McRemitz found herself seated on an aeroplane bound for Japan while trying her hardest to not smile at the situation.

She had been chosen as a master for the Fifth Holy Grail War.

Upon receiving the Command Seals, she had immediately booked a flight for Fuyuki and packed as quickly as possible.

It was certainly an exciting situation for her, the fact was that she would finally get the opportunity to meet Cu Chulainn, the greatest of the Irish Heroes.

It may have been an idea to inform the Mage’s Association before participating but if she did that then there was no guarantee she wouldn’t be pressured into summoning someone else and that wasn’t something she was prepared to risk in this situation.

“Hello Fraga,” she was pulled from her thoughts as a voice called out from the isle, a voice she was certain she had heard before but couldn’t quite place, “what takes you to Japan?”

Looking at the owner of the voice she found herself immediately recognising the man that stood mere feet from her seat.

Lord El-Melloi II with his hooded apprentice standing not far from him.

Not someone she was all that familiar with personally but she had heard that he was a survivor of the Fourth Grail War…

Shit.

If he had been in the previous Grail War then there was a good chance he was going to be participating again.

“Oh, something of interest just came up,” she decided to try and keep it as undescriptive as possible despite having a strong suspicion that he would see right through her.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I encountered what you’re going for ten years ago,” the man stated and she found herself growing tense at his decision to not try and hide what he was talking about to her, “and I’m also certain something has happened with it since then.”

She narrowed her eyes at that.

What was he trying to insinuate?  Or was he trying to mess with her head before they fought on the battle field?

“And what makes you say that?” she decided to humour him before treating him as a threat, they were on a public aeroplane after all and starting a fight here would only make it harder to get to the ritual.

“Last time, I wasn’t nearly as compelled to make the journey,” his statement made her frown slightly… why wouldn’t he be as compelled to make the journey?  Surely he still had his wish from the last war?

“And what has changed since then?” she pried further, hoping he would let something slip.

“Tell me miss Fraga… how much thought did you put into this?” it was a question aimed at her and she found herself opening her mouth to answer before stalling.

Why had she booked the first plane to Fuyuki?

Why hadn’t she done more research into the local area?  Or the likely masters of the war?

Why had she rushed over like a complete amateur?

That was when what he said hit her.

Compelled.

She had been so excited to be participating that she hadn’t even noticed the compulsion that had made her act recklessly in her preparations.

What a rookie mistake to have made.

“Will all passengers please make their way to their seats,” a call could be heard from the front of the cabin and Lord El-Melloi simply gave her one last look before speaking once again.

“When we get to Fuyuki, be careful of everyone,” and with that the long haired man left for his seat.

Bazett for her part, simply released a sigh that he didn’t seem to have any malicious intent towards her but she would take his advice… she would be careful of everyone… and especially of him.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Well… that’s new.

That was about the limit of her thoughts as she looked at the back of her hand with one raised eyebrow.

She had definitely _heard_ of command seals but she had never thought she would ever so much as _see_ a set… let alone _get_ a set of her own.

Then there was the annoying compulsion that kept trying to command her to go to Fuyuki City.

Well, she guessed it wasn’t _that_ big of a problem.

Sure she had felt like returning to her hometown but that could wait.

And if the reason for interrupting her return wasn’t good enough, whoever decided to put this compulsion on her would learn the hard way why Dead Apostle Ancestors tended to run instead of fight her.

She did cast one last glance at the sign she had stopped at before leaving in the direction of Fuyuki.

‘Welcome To Misaki City’.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

She could do little more than grit her teeth as she received her orders.

To think that she had been selected as a master in the Heaven’s Feel Ritual.

It didn’t make any sense.

She had already managed to get what she wanted more than anything else and here she was being selected for a competition with the prize being a wish for anything she wanted?

Beyond that, she had already heard that the Grail granted command seals to the Tohsaka, Makiri and Einzbern families first and then magi with a wish after that.

So why was she being selected for this?

She briefly considered the possibility that the Grail sensed her desire to kill the blonde bimbo of a vampire but that was more of an urge than anything she was going to seriously consider given how vital that idiot had been in providing her with the life she currently lived.

Beyond that however there was another, even more important issue with going to Fuyuki City.

It meant leaving the blonde idiot with her boyfriend.

It was bad enough having to deal with her trying to steal Shiki when she was around, how bad would it get now that she was going to have to leave them alone for a few weeks at least?

She grit her teeth once again.

She would have to finish the conflict as soon as she could so she could get back before Arcueid corrupted Shiki any more than she already had.

Honestly, it was probably one of the most annoying situations she could think of.

But she would have to go, the Church had already commanded such from her and while she didn’t have any love for that organisation, she wasn’t immortal anymore and openly defying them likely wouldn’t work out in her favour right now.

The worst part was feeling something that brought back horrible memories of her childhood… a compulsion.

It was only small, a light but insidious command to go to Fuyuki City, certainly nothing as sickening as the compulsion that made her bite her parents necks and drain them of all the blood in their bodies but it still reminded her of those urges.

She released a sigh of dissatisfaction as she made her decision… she would tell Shiki about where she was going and make her way to Fuyuki City with the utmost haste.

She should be capable of seeking shelter in the Church there until whatever the main branch decided to send her as a catalyst arrived and she could initiate the summoning ritual.

She would just have to deal with the blonde vampire’s obvious cries of victory before she left.

And once again, her teeth gritted in annoyance as she steeled herself for the upcoming desire to brutally murder the most annoying person she had ever had the displeasure of getting to know.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Tohsaka Rin felt her heartbeat rise as she looked at the command seals that marked the back of her hand.

The Fifth Grail War was finally upon her.

She had lost her father in the previous war but she wouldn’t make the same mistakes he had… or at least, she hoped she wouldn’t.

No, she mustn’t think like that.

She was going to be victorious, she would bring glory to the Tohsaka family and access Akasha.

Of course, she would have to wait to make sure everything was _just_ right for the summoning, she wanted to make certain she had the best servant possible after all.

However, for now, she had school to attend, she still had a few weeks before everything was just right for the summoning so she could release that from her mind.

But when the time came, she was going to get Saber and win the war.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Matou Sakura could do little more than feel a sense of dread well up in her as she looked at the Command Seals that had burned themselves onto the back of hand.

She was going to have to summon a servant and participate in the Fifth Grail War.

Silently she hoped that her senpai wouldn’t get dragged into the mess, he was such a kind person but he had a determination that would get him killed if he tried to participate in the war.

She didn’t want him to get hurt… or die.

She tried to clear her thoughts as her ‘Grandfather’ finished looking over the seals on the back of her hand.

“We shall commence with the summoning at midnight,” it wasn’t a question, it wasn’t even a command, it was a simple statement and she didn’t have the courage to defy his decision.

She was going to summon a servant tonight and she was going to have to fight.

At least she would get to see Senpai today.

If she saw him then she might be capable of steeling herself for what was to come.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Emiya Shirou could do little more than release a groan as he woke up on the floor of his shed.

He briefly released a sigh at the fact he had once again managed to fall asleep while trying to practice his magecraft.

Hopefully Fuji-nee and Sakura hadn’t arrived yet but there was no guarantee that hadn’t happened.

Rising from his position on the ground, he stretched his muscles in preparation for the start of the day and in an attempt to relieve himself of the cramps that had developed overnight.

Walking back into the main house, he immediately made his way to the kitchen where he was relieved to see that Sakura hadn’t yet arrived for the day and he would get a chance to cook breakfast.

It was when he was reaching out for the refrigerator that he noticed it.

A strange marking on the back of his left hand.

He didn’t know what it was, he didn’t know how he had gotten it… and that was worrying.

Mystic marks didn’t just appear out of nowhere for no reason and the mystery of where this one had come from was something he would have to try and figure out.

The issue with that was that he didn’t know _how_ to figure out where it came from in the first place.

He shook his head clear of those thoughts as he decided that he would have to deal with it later.

For now he had to prepare breakfast for Sakura and Fuji-nee.

His hands moved with a certainty that wasn’t common for those that weren’t professional chefs as he made his breakfast preparations.

“Good morning Senpai,” he found himself drawn towards the door and caught sight of Sakura.

“Good morning Sakura,” he responded to her greeting quickly as he turned his attention back towards the ingredients he was currently preparing… after all, if he had looked any longer then he wasn’t sure he could’ve stopped himself from staring.

After all, the way the light had shone off her just then had emphasised her beauty and made it unmissable.

The problem with that of course, was that he didn’t want to look at the sister of his friend like that.

She quickly entered the kitchen and started to move herself into his breakfast preparations without a single word or hint of hesitation.

He made no attempts at stopping her, her presence was welcome in his kitchen and as his protégé, she had managed to catch up with him in the art of meal preparation… though he was more than happy to admit that she surpassed him when it came to making traditional Japanese meals… after all, it gave him something to aim for when making it himself.

They worked together smoothly, neither of them getting in the way of the other as the meal came together with an almost expert proficiency as the two finished off the last touches and started to set the table in preparation for the other being that would assault the meal.

Honestly, mornings like this were a good way to start the day as far as he was concerned.

And with that, he continued to get everything ready for the day.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Shirou could do little more than stretch out his muscles as eleven o’clock came around.

Fuji-nee and Sakura had both left some time ago and he would finally get the chance to practice his magecraft for the day.

Moving towards his shed, he felt himself resisting his attempts at going to his impromptu Workshop before turning around despite himself.

He found his eyes widening in shock and disbelief as his body started to move on its own and head out of his home and down the street.

It was definitely not a good situation that much was for certain as he tried to fight whatever force was making his body move against his will… unfortunately it seemed that whatever it was that was forcing him to walk was too strong for him to overcome and he soon found himself walking towards the local Church.

That was confusing at the very least.

Why was he being led towards the Church of all places?

It didn’t make sense but he soon found himself pushing open the doors and walking inside despite himself.

The sight that greeted him was not what he was expecting.

The pews were all missing and it looked like someone had built a throne into the crucifix at the end of the hall.

However what caught his attention more than anything else, was the group of people currently standing in the cleared space.

“E-Emiya-kun?” his attention was drawn towards Tohsaka Rin before noting the way several faces all directed themselves at him in a way that seemed… almost wary?

“Emiya?  As in Emiya Kiritsugu?” a short haired woman wearing a plain business suit asked with a mix of confusion and uncertainty.

“Huh?  You knew my old man?” he found himself asking in surprise, causing a few others to frown in clear confusion.

Taking that moment to look at everyone, he was greeted by an interesting assortment of individuals.

First was obviously Tohsaka Rin, wearing a red sweater and a short black skirt with stockings.

There was also the strong looking woman wearing a business suit and a pair of orb like earrings.

There was a man with long black hair that was currently wearing a red coat and had a small figure wearing a grey cloak standing not far behind him.

A girl of a similar age to himself with very short blue hair and wearing a black robe that looked almost like a nun’s.

There was a tiny girl with white hair and red eyes, wearing a purple coat and a white skirt… though he found the almost predatory smile she gave him when she noticed him looking at her unnerving to say the least.

There was a blonde girl with her hair styled into coils wearing a blue dress.

He noted that there was a woman with vermillion hair wearing a white shirt and a simple pair of blue jeans also present.

In another part of the room was a woman that looked distinctly uncomfortable even in comparison to everyone else who looked tense… this one possessing bright purple hair tied into a braided ponytail while she wore a strange purple uniform with a beret that he didn’t recognise.

The last person he saw though made his eyes widen in surprise.

Why was Sakura here as well?

“Hello Onii-chan,” the white haired girl spoke up while waving towards him and he found himself waving in response, “it’s so good to finally meet you.”

“A-ah… yeah,” he wasn’t certain how he should respond to the enthusiastic girl’s call but didn’t get enough time to respond as an unfamiliar voice cut in.

“Welcome Magi of the modern world,” his attention was drawn towards one of the doors leading into the back of the Church as a blond man wearing solid gold armour came in from the side and made his way to sit in the makeshift throne at the end of the hall… before his mind latched onto an important part of that statement.

Magi.

Did that mean everyone in this room was a Magus?

Because if so, then that meant that both Sakura and Tohsaka were magi.

Looking at Tohsaka, he noticed that her attention seemed to have slipped towards him with surprise clear on her face as she probably came to the same realisation he just had.

Glancing over at Sakura however, caused him to see something different.

The way she was looking down apologetically made it clear that unlike him, she knew he wasn’t normal.

“G-Gilgamesh,” the man with long hair sounded shocked as he said a name that was somewhat familiar to him even if it couldn’t possibly be the same person that immediately came to mind at that name.

“Oh?  So you were chosen, Waver Velvet,” the man in gold spoke up with an amused tone before dismissing the man with no effort.

“You know who this person is Lord El-Melloi,” the woman in the suit asked the man questioningly.

“Servant Archer, of the previous Grail War,” the man stated firmly as he refused to take his eyes of the stranger.

That seemed to earn a collective shifting from most of the group, honestly the only people who didn’t seem somewhat put out by that announcement were the white haired girl and the bright red haired woman.

Unfortunately he had no idea what the man was talking about so he didn’t know how he should react to this blond man’s presence.

“Sorry… but I have no idea what’s going on right now,” he decided to ask, “what do you mean by ‘Servant Archer’ and what’s a Grail War?”

That seemed to draw at least some of the attention in the room, though the only people that looked away from the Golden man were the same two that didn’t seem too concerned about the previous statement about who he was.

“What, didn’t your dad tell you anything?” the woman with the red hair asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh… all he really told me was that he was a magus,” he decided to admit uncertainly, “it took months for me just to convince him to teach me the basics of magecraft.”

The red head seemed to accept that quickly, though the white haired girl looked almost confused at his statement.

“Can we get back to the point,” the purple haired woman asked with no inflection, “some of us are here for a reason.”

Shirou honestly didn’t know what the point was but the man in gold spoke up once again.

“Your questions can be answered later,” the man sounded somewhat irritated at the interruption but continued quickly, “for now, I shall explain the current situation.”

Silence had been a strong theme of this gathering so far, with most of the individuals keeping to themselves from what Shirou could tell but now everyone’s attention was drawn towards the man.

“As Waver Velvet stated to you all, I am Gilgamesh the first Hero of mankind,” the charisma the man possessed was clear to Shirou and he found himself believing the golden man despite his previous thoughts that such a thing was impossible, “when I was summoned to this era, I found myself dissatisfied with how humanity had progressed… it only seemed natural to let them be wiped out.”

Shirou felt his blood run cold at that casual statement of genocide… this person, this person clearly didn’t care for people if he was so unconcerned about potential extinction.

“Over the past ten years, I have travelled this world and witnessed more of humanity than I had been aware of from my short time in this era before,” the man continued with his blood red eyes displaying a certain sense of… mirth, at his statement, “seeing humanity struggling to improve, to transcend the limits that now plague it… I have decided to grant humanity a small mercy.”

“Humanity has clearly become a shadow of itself without a true king to lead them,” the man stated easily, “as such, I feel it is my obligation to provide them with another chance… a chance to prove themselves worthy of existing under my rule.”

That sounded ominous to say the least.

“What does this have to do with the Heaven’s Feel and us?” the woman in red easily interrupted the stranger and was quickly prompted to stop by the long haired man that Gilgamesh called Waver Velvet.

“This Holy Grail was infected,” the legendary figure stated easily, “I have destroyed the infection and modified the Grail to operate under new resources and rules.”

Shirou honestly couldn’t say anything about that, he had no idea what the man meant when it came to resources and rules since he didn’t even know what this so called, Holy Grail was meant to do in the first place.

“I take it you changed the selection of masters as part of those modifications,” the red headed woman asked with ease, clearly not intimidated by the man before her.

“Indeed,” the red eyed man did sound irritated but carried on regardless, “the Grail was originally created to grant wishes, that much you should all be aware of already.”

Shirou found himself blinking in surprise at that claim but kept his silence.

“Such a pathetic prize to fight for,” the man sounded scornful of the idea as he looked at the group before him, “so upon cleansing the Grail of the Corruption that hid within it, I removed that capacity, altered its power source and have made it appropriate for my goal.”

He noted the way the woman in purple seemed to grit her teeth at that declaration but once again his attention was drawn back towards the man that stood before them all.

“You have all been selected to act as the enforcers of the Kingdom I shall create,” he spoke as if it was a great honour for them to be chosen for this purpose, “for you are all Magi who are willing to work for the betterment of humanity… with two exceptions.”

Shirou noticed the way the man gave a cold glare at the little girl who seemed almost furious at the situation she was currently involved in.

“However, I shall grant you a mercy and allow you to keep your status as a master until such a time as I feel you have betrayed my trust, little doll,” the stranger that commanded the gathered crowd stated with a clear air of disdain in his tone before turning his attention towards the figure in the cloak.

“She’s my apprentice,” the man wearing the red coat stated quickly, “she’s here because of me.”

“Hn,” the man in gold seemed to dismiss the situation with that small explanation.

“I have a question,” the blue haired woman who had been waiting quietly up until now asked seriously, “where is the priest that runs this church?”

“Kotomine’s heart was destroyed during the Fourth Grail War,” the golden man responded easily before continuing, “he was granted a new heart by the corruption within the Grail… now that I have cleansed the corruption, he has expired.”

That… didn’t seem to make sense as far as Shirou could tell.

“Now, that is enough talking,” Gilgamesh stated firmly, “it is time for you to summon your servants and take your place as masters in my Golden Order.”

Summon a servant?

Shirou found himself frowning in confusion at that claim by the golden king.

His confusion however was interrupted by the blond man snapping his fingers and the floor igniting in an intense display of light.

“I’m sorry… but I have no idea what’s going on right now,” Shirou admitted with his frown still clear on his face, “what do you mean when you say we are to summon our servants?”

“Oh? You certainly seem rather slow on the uptake,” the girl in blue finally spoke up and his attention was drawn towards the way she seemed to find his question amusing, “it seems we’re being expected to summon our Servants for the Grail War here.”

“There is no Grail War,” Gilgamesh stated firmly causing the girl to blink, “you are here to summon your Servants so you may enforce my will and destroy the filth that has infested this world during my absence.”

Shirou found himself frowning as he asked something he was certain was important.

“What do you mean by filth?” it was the obvious question but it could completely change the situation he had found himself in depending on the answer.

“The creatures you call Dead Apostles, demons and other creatures that should not exist in this world,” the man in gold stated firmly.

And Shirou found himself knowing what he had to do.

Kiritsugu may not have told him much but he had managed to weasel the knowledge of some things out of the man and the little he said on the subject of Dead Apostles had been chilling when he had first learned about them.

Sure, he didn’t really know much except that they were cruel, malicious and very much anti-human but that was enough to let him know that they were the enemy.

“Okay, what do I have to do?” he asked without hesitation.

“E-Emiya!” Tohsaka seemed surprised by his statement but he just walked towards the ritual circle without faltering.

“Hn, it would appear as if you finally understand the opportunity I have given you,” the red eyed man seemed almost amused by his conviction.

“Not really,” he admitted, “but if we’re going to be stopping those things then that means we’ll be saving people… that’s all I need to know.”

Looking at the ritual circle he thought about what little his father had taught him about them, that they generally did most of the work and all he really needed to do was supply the Mana.

And so he closed his eyes and got to work converting one of his nerves into a magic circuit.

“Enough,” his attention was broken when the gold man made that command, “explain.”

He could nothing more than frown in confusion.

“Explain what?” he had no idea what the man was annoyed about but it was obvious he wasn’t happy.

“Explain why you are turning your nerves into magic circuits,” immediately everyone in the room gave off indications of surprise and he frowned in confusion.

“Isn’t that how you use magecraft?” he asked in clear confusion.

“Only if you want to kill yourself,” the voice of the red haired woman called out with annoyance in her own tone and he turned to face her, “seriously, didn’t your father teach you anything?”

“Well… he didn’t really want to teach me anything,” he admitted, “I had to fight tooth and nail just to get him to teach me reinforcement and projection.”

“S-senpai…” his hearing caught Sakura looking at him with a downcast expression adorning her face and a trace of guilt also evident.

Looking at everyone else in the room, he noted the way they all seemed shocked by the revelation that he wasn’t a good magus.

It made him wonder if Kiritsugu had been well known among magi.

Then his eyes caught sight of the little girl with white hair and he found himself becoming even more confused as she stared at him in a state that looked almost catatonic.

“Tch,” the man in gold seemed irritated by the situation, “come here.”

It was obviously a command and Shirou found himself obeying it without really thinking, wondering just how bad he really was if everyone seemed unable to comprehend him using his nerves as Circuits.

Upon reaching the man he found a hand placed on his chest before a burning pain rushed through him.

“Grgh!” he took an involuntary step back but the result had already been achieved.

“Senpai!” Sakura’s voice called out in clear concern as she moved towards him.

“It’s fine Sakura,” he called out to her as he frowned in confusion.

The pain had been just a quick jolt but he could now tell that he had what appeared to be about… twenty-seven active magic circuits in his body.

What was most surprising was the fact that he could tell none of them were formed from his nerves and they weren’t causing him searing pain just by being active.

“Now, perform your summoning,” the red eyed man stated firmly and Shirou found himself nodding in compliance.

“Y-yeah,” it was confusing but he returned to the ritual circle as he asked the question on his mind, “what did you do to me just then?”

“I forced your magic circuits open,” the man stated with any inflection.

Shirou found himself nodding in acceptance.

He had thought the man had somehow given him circuits but the idea that these ones were already there but he hadn’t realised it actually made some sense, especially given how everyone else reacted to the knowledge that he made his circuits out of his nerves.

“Trace On,” he spoke softly as he activated his magic circuits and pushed his power out of his body and into the ritual circle.

He didn’t know what the circle did but if there was anything he could say, it was that that lack of knowledge was a benefit here… he didn’t know what the end result was and so simply focusing on activating the ritual array was simple enough.

The array glowed brightly before reaching a crescendo and erupting in a flash that could be described as being almost like lightning.

“Servant Saber,” a calm voice spoke out from the array and Shirou found himself looking for the owner of the voice, “I ask of you, are you my master.”

The person that had appeared in the ritual circle looked young, no older than he himself did.  However that didn’t change the fact that she was beautiful, smooth skin, blonde hair that had a lustre almost like gold and she wore a blue dress with steel armour overlaying it.

His attention was drawn by a small gasp that sounded almost shocked but was stopped from looking to see who had done so before the golden king spoke up.

“Heh, hello again Saber,” the man in gold called out with a satisfied grin adorning his face.

The blonde woman froze temporarily before looking at the man in gold and speaking something very simple.

“Who are you?” her voice was firm and Shirou found himself instantly noticing that despite her question, there was a clear sense of distaste in her tone as she addressed the golden king.

“Do not think you can fool me Saber,” the man stated with a smile that almost looked malicious, “the passion in those eyes of yours tell me that you remember the last time we met.”

Shirou may not have understood the situation but even he could tell that the one that called herself Saber was tensing up in preparation for a battle.

“Hold on just a minute!” the girl with curls for her hair spoke up in clear indignation, “Servants are not supposed to remember any previous time they were summoned.”

“Normally that would be true,” Gilgamesh responded before her protests could continue, “however, you’re not a normal Servant are you Saber?”

The way he spoke that made it clear that the man with red eyes already had at least an idea of what was going on… which was more than Shirou could even hope to understand right now.

It also seemed to put the armoured woman even more on edge than she already was.

“Now Saber… have you reconsidered my offer?” the man asked and Shirou looked between the two as Saber became so tense he was certain she was going to spring into action at any second.

“I would rather die than accept your offer,” the girl stated with a complete conviction in her tone that made Shirou tense in nervousness himself.

“I see…” the armoured man responded casually, “well, I suppose our last meeting would have happened almost immediately before now from your perspective… so I shall be lenient and grant you time to reassess your decision.”

That seemed to confuse the woman in steel armour.

“Now, go to your master and watch the rest of the summonings quietly,” it was a simple command and despite everything, Shirou did at least understand that he was the most likely person to fit the bill of being her master.

“Uh, Saber-san… let’s get out of the way,” he decided to simply try and get the girl to cease glaring at the man in gold by getting her out of his line of sight.

She relented quickly but with a clear reluctance to step down against the first hero as she followed Shirou towards one of the walls.

“Well… I guess I’ll go next,” the man in red spoke up as he moved towards the ritual circle while the cloaked figure stared in Shirou’s direction, it’s face obscured by the shadows cast by the hood it was wearing.

Honestly it made Shirou uncomfortable.

The man in red pulled out a case that he quickly opened before pulling out a red cloth that looked to be ancient.

“Oh?  So you are planning on summoning _your_ king once again?” the amusement in Gilgamesh’s voice was clear.

“There is no other Servant I could think of summoning,” the man responded easily as he set the cloth down in the centre of the ritual circle.

Soon, the man started to chant, his aria clearly designed as a ten count and tailored for this ritual… honestly, the complexity of the chant made Shirou feel embarrassed that he could only manage two words for the ritual.

Eventually the ritual burst into light once again and he found himself wondering just what the man had summoned.

“AHAHAHA!!!” the boisterous laughter that echoed instantly drew his attention towards an absolutely massive man with short red hair and a matching beard, clad in bronze armour and a red cape, “it’s good to see you again Waver Velvet.”

The man at the ritual circle seemed surprised by that, though he wasn’t the only one.

“My king,” the man in red spoke with confusion, “you remember me?”

It was as if he couldn’t believe it himself.

“You swore your loyalty to me,” the man in bronze stated with a grin, “and I remember everyone that ever gave me their loyalty.”

Several people seemed confused before the summoner seemed to come to a realisation.

“Your Noble Phantasm,” it was quiet but the massive man simply laughed even more.

“Hn, so you too remember the previous war,” the man in gold spoke up with some amusement in his tone.

“Oh?” the newly summoned man turned to face the blond man before speaking up again, “if it isn’t Gilgamesh… I guess that proves this isn’t a normal summoning after all.”

“Indeed,” the golden king seemed to be less amused with the newly summoned person but there was a clear lack of hostility in his tone as well, “you have been summoned to aid humanity in this era.”

“Is that why this body feels closer to a real one than a class container?” the largest man in the room asked easily.

Shirou himself had no idea what the man was saying but noted the way everyone else seemed surprised by that question… while the girl that was called Saber seemed to stiffen at that.

“Of course, what good is an organisation of Masters and Servants if they’re restricted by their forms and upkeep?” the red eyed king responded easily.

“I see,” the red headed man responded with a tone of understanding, “am I right in thinking that you have changed your mind about conquering the world?”

“The world is already mine,” the blond man stated without any hint of uncertainty in his voice, “I merely need people to evict those that aren’t welcome here.”

“Is that so,” the large man said with a subtle grin adorning his face, “very well, I shall lend you my aid Gilgamesh.”

Shirou immediately noted the small gasp of surprise that escaped the lips of the blonde woman he had summoned and he was obviously not the only one.

“Oh?  Well if it isn’t Saber!” the man seemed joyous to see her as well, “you look to be doing well!”

“And you appear to be just as foolish as you were the last time we met,” the girl in blue and steel responded with a tone that sounded somewhat deadpanned and scathing at the same time.

“Ha!  So you remember the last war as well,” the bronze clad man said with clear amusement at her declaration.

“Indeed Saber does,” Gilgamesh spoke up easily, “however, you are holding up the summoning… move.”

The large man seemed to find more humour in that command but he did listen as he moved away from the summoning ritual to make way for the next magus.

“… I suppose I should go next,” Tohsaka’s voice called out and Shirou watched as she strode firmly up to the summoning ritual, “I was waiting for the best time but I guess I’ll just have to make do.”

“If you wish to perform a summoning at another time then feel free to return,” the golden man stated with an uncaring shrug, “I expect you all to summon multiple servants over time regardless.”

“W-what?!” Tohsaka sounded genuinely shocked by that statement and it appeared she wasn’t the only one.

“I guess that makes sense,” the man named Waver spoke up easily, drawing attention to him, “the drain I feel on my reserves is practically non-existent compared to the last time I supported a servant.”

“Well, that’s what a proper body does for us,” the red headed ‘servant’ stated with amusement.

Tohsaka seemed somewhat uncertain despite it but quickly started her own version of the summoning.

The ritual glowed just as normal before dying down to reveal someone that didn’t feel like the previous two.

It wasn’t the bone white hair, it wasn’t the tanned skin or the cynical eyes… it was the red coat, black vest, black trousers and boots.

That wasn’t including the fact that Shirou found himself immediately disliking the man even though he was certain he’d never met him before.

The newly summoned individual scanned the room, his eyes resting on Shirou for an instant longer than everyone else but the redhead could tell the man had the same dislike for him that he had for the man just from those eyes.

“Well… this is different,” the man in red stated with a blasé tone.

“I suppose it is, Faker,” upon hearing Gilgamesh say that, the white haired man turned to face the golden king who simply stared at the new Servant with a frown.

“I’m an Archer,” the newly summoned being stated bluntly.

“Your class if irrelevant to you being a Faker,” the blond man stated firmly, “now leave the ritual circle, there are more that have to summon.”

The tanned man seemed unsure of what to do but a little prompting by Tohsaka caused him to follow while frowning while looking at his hands.

It was almost immediate when the woman wearing the business suit stepped up with a clear hesitation as she removed her earrings and placed them in the ritual circle and started to chant before anyone could say anything in response.

Just as before, the ritual circle glowed before the light dyed down to reveal a tall man with blue hair and a boyish grin, wearing a black body suit, a tattered blue mantle with a fur rimmed hood that was held closed by a thick rope, lower robes that matched the mantle outside of the gold lines that zagged across each other and a white cloth that was held over the lower robe by a segmented leather belt.

In his hand was also a large wooden staff.

“Yo, I’m servant Caster,” the man stated with a grin as he looked upon the others, “it would seem I’ve been summoned in a pretty interesting situation.”

The woman seemed shocked by that statement but quickly shook her head.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting you in the Caster Class,” she admitted nervously.

“Ah, expecting me as a Lancer right?” the newly summoned person guessed easily, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the woman, “well, I think you got lucky with this but that’s just me.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from frowning… he would definitely need to get someone to get him up to speed on what was going on right now.

“I see… now, we should move over to let the other potential masters perform their own summonings,” the woman stated, earning an amused chuckle off the man though he quickly complied.

“Well, given that Tohsaka has already summoned her Servant, I think it is only natural I summon my own,” the blonde girl wearing blue stated as she moved towards the ritual circle.

It seemed as though the nervousness that had permeated the room before had lightened somewhat and the latest magus to step up to the ritual started to chant before the room was once again engulfed in a bright light before Shirou opened his eyes to see the result.

This time the figure that was called forth was a young woman with long black hair and vibrant red eyes, who wore what appeared to be a military uniform from only a couple of hundred years ago at the earliest, with a pair of grieves covering her legs and a large red cloak wrapped around her neck.  Then there was the hat that fit with her uniform except for the large golden crest that came from the front.

“Greetings Magus!  I am Servant Demon Archer!” the girl announced with a clear authority in her tone.

“D- _demon_ Archer?” the blonde girl that had just performed the summoning sounded genuinely shocked at that announcement, “t-that isn’t a proper class! The traditional classes are-!”

“Screw tradition!” the newly summoned girl declared firmly, “revolution and progress are the name of the game!”

“BWAHAHAHA!!!” immediately the man called Rider let out a massive laugh at that declaration, “sounds like a good time!”

“And who are you?!” the red eyed girl finally seemed to notice the other people in the room and glared at the large man.

“I am the King Of Conquerors!  The Great Iskandar!” the man announced clearly, earning several shocked gasps from the group while Saber and Waver proceeded to simply facepalm at him, “now the question is, who are you?”

“Oh?  So you are the Great King of Macedonia,” the girl seemed almost amused by that declaration, “very well, hear my name and tremble in fear! For I am-!”

“STOP IT YOU MORON!!!”

The girl with blonde curls shouted in clear anger before continuing with an obvious heat in her tone, “you are _not_ supposed to give your name to your opponent!”

“There shall be no fighting here,” the cold tone of the Golden King came firmly, causing everyone to look at him in anticipation, “you have all been selected to fulfil the same role and I expect you to cooperate with each other.”

“And who are you?” the black haired girl seemed unimpressed by the golden king that sat in his makeshift throne.

“That’s Gilgamesh,” the man that called himself Iskandar stated before anyone else could respond.

“Is that so?” the supposed Demon Archer said with a hint of distaste before speaking to the blonde king, “so give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you here.”

“Oh?  You would dare try to threaten me?” the red eyed man asked with a dangerous edge to his tone and Shirou found himself gulping nervously.

“Why wouldn’t I threaten a slave of those relics called gods?” was the immediate response from the recently summoned girl.

 _He was going to die_.

That was the only feeling that passed through Shirou’s body as the golden king suddenly unleashed a presence that he could only describe as the intent to kill.

And Shirou could do little more than sweat in terror of the intent that was washing over him.

“I am not a slave to _those things_ ,” the red eyed man seemed downright furious right now and Shirou found himself silently wondering how the newly summoned woman could weather the storm so easily, “and if you wish to survive, then you would do well to remember that.”

The glare that the man sent the woman didn’t seem to deter her at all.

“Oh?  Are you saying you don’t care about those deities?” she sounded almost amused by his statement.

“Saying I don’t care for them is inaccurate…” the blond man stated with a pause before continuing, “I _hate_ those gods and will kill any that dare show themselves before me.”

Silence reigned for several more seconds before the girl suddenly brightened happily.

“Great!  Then we’ll get along just fine!” she definitely sounded much happier now and Shirou found himself thrown for a loop though he did notice the intent to kill lessen somewhat.

“Oh?  And what makes you think that little girl?” the man in gold asked with his displeasure still noticeable.

“Because I hate gods too!” she sounded perfectly natural when saying that, “I even dedicated my life to trying to wipe out what was left of them.”

“Dammit!!!” the girl that had summoned Demon Archer cried out before grabbing her arm, “stop giving them information you idiot!”

“Huh?” it seemed the god-hater had been suitably confused by that statement and was soon dragged away from the ritual circle without much protest.

“Next magus, step forward and summon,” it was obvious from the irritation in his tone that Gilgamesh was not happy with the previous summoning.

Shirou quickly found his attention drawn towards the red haired woman in a shirt and jeans as she stepped forward without hesitation.

“Might as well get this over with,” and without any hesitation, the woman held up her arm… and Shirou found himself gasping in amazement.

He had heard of magic crests, of how they tended to glow when in use… but this… this was something beyond his imagination.

It was like the crest was projecting itself around her arm and rotating at a rate of probably several revs a second… before she seemed to channel that power into the ritual and cause an eruption of light.

When the light finally died down, Shirou found himself blinking in surprise at the person who had appeared.

He appeared to be a young boy, probably no older than ten years old all things considered, with spiky blue hair and wearing a classical gentleman’s outfit of a shirt, knee length trousers, a waist coat, bow and socks that went past the point where his trousers finished.

What stood out about the boy more than anything though, was his eyes… those cold, calculating eyes that currently seemed to scan the gathered crowd before turning to face the golden king.

“I see,” the boy spoke with a voice that sounded more fitting for a middle aged man, “hello, master, I am the Servant of the Caster Class, Hans Christian Anderson.”

Shirou found himself blinking as several others in the room also seemed to take some confusion from that introduction.

“That’s pretty open of you,” the red-headed woman stated with a raised eyebrow.

“If this was a Grail War, then it would not be a communal summoning,” the boy stated bluntly, “there is also the issue that I am a Servant that lacks any form of combat ability, therefore, knowledge of my identity provides no additional advantage that would increase their chances of defeating me beyond the one hundred percent chance they already have.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from frowning at that claim, why was this kid so certain he was guaranteed to lose?

“Quite the pessimist aren’t you,” the red haired woman stated bluntly.

“Quite,” the boy responded easily, “now, I believe proper introductions can be performed at a later time… for now we should cease holding up the remaining summons any more than they already have been.”

“Sure, we’ll have plenty of time later,” and with that, the red-head proceeded to move out of the way while the little boy followed her without any hesitation.

“Hey!  Why does he get to give his name and I don’t?!” the one that called herself Demon Archer asked with clear indignation in her tone.

“Because he’s the Servant of The Blue,” the blonde girl with the curls stated before yelping as something looking like a bullet fired near her head and melted the wall behind her.

“Don’t call me that,” the red head stated with an annoyed expression, earning a nod of agreement along with a gulp of nervousness from the girl.

“Y-yes ma’am,” the blonde spoke up with her nerves clearly in disarray, “b-but the point is, that his master could probably hold her own against a servant without help.”

Shirou found himself wondering just what that meant, he assumed it probably meant the woman was strong but he had no idea just how strong that was.

“Enough,” the golden king stated firmly, “continue with the summonings.”

The next to step forward made Shirou blink.

The little white haired girl moved towards the golden king before speaking.

“So… what am I to do?” the girl asked bluntly, “I was already forced to summon my servant by my grandfather.”

“Then use it as the base and summon it again,” the golden haired king stated firmly.

“What?” the girl seemed shocked by that order.

“Summon it again,” the order was firm and clear, “I will not have my enforcers wasting their power supporting something unnecessarily.”

The girl still seemed shocked by that command before releasing a sigh.

“Berserker,” and with that one word, Shirou found himself freezing.

A giant of a man, easily taller than anyone else in the room including the one that called himself Iskander, appeared out of nowhere and possessed a presence that made simply standing in the same vicinity as him difficult.

The girl directed the bronze man to stand in the circle and then started to perform what appeared to be an altered version of the summoning that started to wrap around the man before her and eventually dispersing without apparently doing anything.

“T-there,” the girl said quickly.

“Good, now make room for the other masters that have yet to summon,” the red eyed man commanded firmly.

“Berserker, come!” and with that command, the giant of a man moved with the girl to the side of the room even if Shirou still found the man’s presence intimidating.

“Next,” it was a simple command and Shirou expected to see someone step forward.

No one did.

“A-ah… I’m sorry but I don’t want to fight,” Sakura spoke up uneasily.

“I have to decline the offer as well, I have something I need to do soon,” the woman wearing the purple uniform stated bluntly.

“And I’m not leaving my boyfriend with that bloody vampire trying to steal him from me,” the girl in the nun habit stated firmly.

Shirou could do little more than stare in shock as the air was filled with golden ripples, each with a weapon poised halfway within them and ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

The worst part was that he _knew_ each of those weapons was deadly to the point where the chances of surviving being struck by any of them would be non-existent.

“You would reject the position granted to you?” the man sounded cold but furious.

The trio that wanted to reject the situation looked like they were about to collapse from their current stress of facing down the angry king and Shirou suddenly felt his body tense in preparation.

“If I may speak,” the voice of the legendary author spoke up, drawing the attention of the king.

“What is it boy,” the king sounded irritated but it didn’t seem to deter the child.

“The three that have just spoken have situations that make tying them down unfavourable for them,” Hans stated clearly, “one is a victim of circumstance, forced to bear a burden she did not deserve, another is cursed, slowly succumbing to their condition while they try to find relief… the last is a person, kept alive against her will for a single purpose… until she found a new purpose that gave her life meaning beyond the vengeance she sought.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from frowning in confusion at those statements, they were all too vague but at the same time, the reactions they got from the three that remained made it clear he had somehow hit the nail on the head.

“Each has a reason to reject your offer, just as each would have a reason to accept it should they be granted what they need,” and with that the boy gave an acknowledging bow to the golden king who seemed to assess the boy before releasing a small chuckle.

“You speak as if you know each of them,” the man in gold said with curiosity.

“I possess an A rank in human observation,” the boy stated without hesitation, confusing Shirou in the process, “understanding a person is the one skill I am exceptional at.”

Shirou still had no idea just how the boy was supposedly so capable but it seemed that the others in the room at least had some idea of what was going on with that so he would simply ask later.

“I see,” Gilgamesh stated with a calmer air about him, “I shall forgive your insolence this once… now step forward and summon your servants… I shall not forgive another slight.”

Shirou watched as the purple haired woman stepped forward with a clearly unhappy expression adorning her face before she started her own summoning aria.

Yet again, a bright light filled the room and Shirou opened his eyes to see who had appeared this time.

It was a regal looking man with long white hair, a neatly trimmed white beard and ice cold eyes that made him involuntarily freeze in the same way that Berserker did.

The man was dressed in clothes that looked fit for royalty, with a jet black tailcoat jacket with golden trim and fur cuffs, with what looked to be a white dress shirt underneath, while the bottom of a robe could be seen extending down past his waist and onto skin tight black trousers that seemed to meld into a set of boots.

“I am Servant Lancer,” the man spoke with a tone of authority, “I believe you are my master.”

The girl before him seemed somewhat shaken by his presence but soldiered through it.

“I am,” she spoke firmly, earning a nod of acceptance from the man.

“Good, you may make an interesting master,” the white haired man stated firmly before letting his eyes scan the room, “tell me master… is this a Great Grail War?”

 “No, this is not a Grail War at all,” Gilgamesh stated firmly, drawing the attention of the man that had just been summoned, “there is no fighting among yourselves in this organisation.”

Silence reigned after that before the newest introduction to the area seemed to accept that and move out of the way of the summoning ritual.

“Y-you’re just going to accept that?” the purple haired woman sounded somewhat surprised but the man simply looked at her out of the corner of his eyes.

“For now,” and without another word, he moved to the side of the room and waited as the girl followed him.

“Next,” the red eyed king declared firmly and the two remaining magi looked at each other before Sakura inclined her head in defeat and moved towards the ritual circle.

Shirou couldn’t help but notice the apologetic look she gave him before taking a deep breath and activating the ritual.

He couldn’t take his eyes away as he watched a girl that he had gotten to know over nearly a year perform a magecraft ritual more advanced than anything he had ever learned.

When the light erupted, he had been prepared… when it died down he found himself staring in amazement.

Sakura had managed to summon a beautiful woman with hair that went down to her ankles, of a shade on the border between purple and pink.

But there was also her clothes… a black, strapless mini-dress with a purple edge at the top, with a set of gloves that went halfway up her bicep and had several rings of purple… while her boots went halfway up her thigh and also possessed a purple ring at the edge with a larger purple patch facing forward on her ankles.

The most noticeable part of her however was the large, decorative blindfold that seemed to seal away her eyes from the world.

“Servant Rider… are you my master?” the newly summoned woman ask and Sakura seemed to deflate in defeat.

“Yes,” it was a single, simple word but it was filled with a reluctant acceptance of the situation.

The woman brought forth simply nodded.

“Let’s get out of the way Rider-san,” and without any further introductions, the new Rider moved with Sakura out of the way.

Shirou found himself looking at the last person to make their way to the summoning ritual.

It was obvious that she didn’t want to do this and from what he could tell of what she had previously said, she apparently had a boyfriend that she was leaving behind to be here… something she didn’t want to do.

It seemed like she didn’t expect to be able to get out of this situation and instead simply made her way to the summoning ritual and started to chant with a conciseness that he hadn’t really heard from any of the other magi.

The resulting light died down to reveal someone that made Shirou genuinely uncomfortable in a way that the other summoned people didn’t.

He was a young man with white hair and red eyes, wearing a three-piece business suit, a fedora and a red tie.

However it was the dark, hate filled miasma that seemed to waft off him that truly made Shirou uncomfortable.

“Hello magus,” the stranger started to say, “I am servant Avenger… but this doesn’t look like a Grail War… so why have I been summoned?”

Shirou couldn’t stop his attention from turning towards the little girl with the white hair when she gasped in shock at the introduction… clearly the name Avenger meant something to her.

“You have been summoned because I commanded it,” the red eyed king stated firmly, drawing the attention of the stranger.

“Is that so?” the man spoke up with a hint of amusement in his tone, “tell me, what makes you think summoning me was a good idea?”

“That _you_ were summoned is irrelevant,” the blond king stated firmly, “simply that your master summoned a servant.”

That almost seemed to amuse the newly summoned individual but Gilgamesh proceeded to continue talking, this time clearly directing his words to every person in the room.

“You have all now summoned your first servant… now, you have one week to get your affairs in order and familiarize yourselves with your servants… after that you shall summon your second Servants,” the golden king stated firmly, “now leave.”

That final statement was made with a clear sense of finality to it and Shirou found himself turning his attention towards Saber and nodding in confirmation.

The group took a while to trickle out of the church and Shirou found himself genuinely curious about some things.

“So… uh, we sort of didn’t really introduce ourselves before,” he spoke up, drawing the attention from the rest of the group, “my name is Emiya Shirou… it’s nice to meet you all.”

It seemed almost like he had done something that was completely unexpected.

“*sigh* I’m Lord El-Melloi II… though as you probably heard in there my actual name is Waver Velvet,” the man with the red coat stated with a sense of acceptance before indicating towards the hooded figure, “and this is my apprentice, Gray.”

The figure didn’t give any response to the introduction but Shirou decided to respond anyway.

“Hello Gray-san,” it was a simple acknowledgement but he didn’t receive anything from the figure.

“Well, if Lord El-Melloi II is prepared to give his name then it would be shameful for me to avoid doing so myself,” the blonde girl in blue spoke up herself, “greetings Emiya-san, my name is Luviagelita Edelfelt.”

“It’s nice to meet you Edelfelt-san,” Shirou found himself responding easily.

“Hello Onii-chan,” he once again found his attention drawn towards the little girl, “aren’t you going to say hello to me?”

He found himself blinking in confusion.

“Sorry, I would but I don’t know who you are,” he admitted with a frown… surely he’d remember a girl like this wouldn’t’ he?

That seemed to make the little girl deflate but she spoke up before he could say anything.

“My name is Illyasviel Von Einzbern,” she stated before pausing for several seconds before releasing a defeated sigh, “so he didn’t tell you.”

Shirou could do little more than frown in confusion at that claim.

“What do you mean?” he found himself asking.

“Kiritsugu never told you I was his daughter,” the girl stated with a hint of sadness clear in her tone.

It took Shirou a couple of seconds to process that information.

“S-so that means… you’re my sister?” he asked in confusion, hoping he wasn’t misinterpreting the situation.

“Well… adopted sister anyway,” the girl admitted with the sadness still in her eyes.

“S-sorry,” he couldn’t stop himself from apologizing, the idea that he had managed to upset the girl by not knowing who she was wasn’t something he was happy about.

“Well, if dad never told you then it isn’t exactly your fault is it,” the girl seemed to accept the situation with a sigh before brightening up once more, “but now, we can finally see each other… I hope you have lots of stories for me Onii-chan.”

Shirou found himself growing nervous at that statement by the girl… he honestly didn’t have many stories to tell.

“Since we’re in the process of introductions…” a familiar voice spoke up and Shirou found his attention drawn towards Tohsaka once again, “I am Tohsaka Rin… the overseer of this city.”

Shirou found himself swallowing nervously at that claim… he didn’t even know what she meant when she said she was the overseer of the area, his only guess was that she kept track of any supernatural goings on but that was all he could really guess.

“Aozaki Aoko,” the red head piped up quickly, “but I’d be happier if you didn’t call me that.”

“So, uh… what should I call you?” he found himself quickly asking in confusion.

“Don’t know… just don’t call me by my name,” that wasn’t a very helpful statement by the woman.

Shirou quickly tried to think of anything that really stood out about her but could only really come up with her hair… he’d just have to deal with it.

“I know it’s not very imaginative,” Shirou spoke up uncertainly, “but is Red-san okay?”

“Sure, don’t worry about the san though,” she dismissed his lack of creativity with little effort but at least he now knew what to call her without annoying her in the process.

“… that’s… a little weird,” Luviagelita spoke up with a frown.

“Well some of us don’t like our names,” Aoko spoke up with a frown, “… or the colour people keep associating us with.”

Shirou was pretty sure he was missing something, not that it was hard to realise that given the interaction during the summoning ritual.

“Well, I guess that since we’re at the very least _not_ enemies right now it wouldn’t hurt to tell you my name,” the woman in the business suit stated with a sigh, “my name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz… let’s hope things stay this peaceful for a little while at least.”

“Oh?  You don’t want to fight?” the blue Caster asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I came here because I wanted to meet you,” she responded without hesitation, “it’s been a dream of mine since I was young.”

“Heh, so I was summoned by a fan,” the blue haired man seemed almost amused by that revelation.

“Is that a problem?” Bazett asked uncertainly.

“Nah, it’s fine,” the response was swift and seemed to earn a sigh of relief from the woman.

“I guess I should tell you my name then,” the girl with short blue hair said with a sigh, “Ciel.”

Shirou had to blink at that one before Aoko spoke in response.

“Really?  I’m surprised,” she seemed almost amused by that name and earned a frown off the girl who had just introduced herself.

“Why?” she seemed confused as to why her name would be a surprise.

“Because I never expected a member of the Burial Agency to have a boyfriend,” Shirou couldn’t stop himself from frowning in confusion at that but Ciel seemed to just become a frightening shade of red before exploding.

“W-what’s wrong with having a boyfriend?!!!” she seemed rather defensive of that fact.

“I always thought the Burial Agency was filled with people who cared only about killing vampires,” the red-head stated with a shrug, “it does also make me ask… who’s the vampire that’s trying to steal him from you?”

That statement seemed to make the girl in the nun habit grit her teeth in clear frustration.

“Arcueid Brunestud,” she said two words that confused Shirou… more because of the reactions they got from everyone else in the area.

“Pfft… so the White Princess has a thing for _him_ huh?” Aoko certainly sounded amused.

“S-shut up!” Ciel responded with her annoyance clear in her voice, “a-and why are you focusing so much on me when there are still others who’ve yet to introduce themselves?!”

Shirou found his attention drawn towards the girl wearing purple, he knew who Sakura was after all, and the first thing he noticed about her was the way she was currently looking at the newly introduced Ciel with a clear hint of uncertainty, her posture dictating a clear level of distrust towards the blue haired girl.

“Uh, are you alright?” he asked the girl who refused to remove her eyes from the girl who apparently had a vampire trying to steal her boyfriend..

“Heheheh…” the man that called himself Lancer seemed amused by his question, “of course she would feel uncomfortable around that girl… after all, for one whom is fighting off Vampirism to come across one whom kills vampires, it is only natural mistrust would arise.”

“L-Lancer?!!!” the girl in purple sounded shocked by his claim but it was also obvious that she was more shocked by the fact he knew than anything else.

“Ah, that makes sense,” the blue haired girl said with a nod of confirmation.

Everyone seemed to have their attention drawn to the girl who just blinked before asking a simple question.

“What?” it was as if she couldn’t understand why everyone thought she was acting weird.

“I thought Red-san said members of your organisation only cared about killing Vampires?” he asked, honestly he had no idea what her organisation was but it didn’t sound particularly… nice.

“… Kind of?” Ciel sounded uncertain herself, “I mean, we actually have a Dead Apostle Ancestor as a member… and I was only inducted because the Vatican got tired of trying to figure out a way to kill me after ten years of experimenting… so I only really want to kill two vampires… and one of them is dead and the other is beyond my ability to kill.”

“Let me guess, Arcueid?” Aoko sounded amused when she made that claim, causing the blue haired girl’s expression to darken as she grit her teeth in response.

“Now that we’ve established Ciel-san doesn’t plan on murdering anyone here,” Luvia spoke up firmly, “may you be so kind as to tell us your name miss soon to become a vampire?”

“Sion Eltnam Atlasia,” the purple dressed woman stated with a cold tone, “and my reason for being here _was_ to try and cure myself of my affliction.”

Shirou could do little more than nod in acceptance of that statement… he would probably try to find a cure in that situation as well.

“Now for the last of us,” Aoko seemed to direct everyone’s attention back onto the last member of the group to have not given their name.

“A-ah… I am Matou Sakura… I’m sorry but I never wanted to be here,” she explained and Shirou found himself nodding in acceptance… from what he knew of Sakura, she wasn’t the type of person who would want to be involved in this type of situation.

“Okay, so that’s everyone,” Lord El-Melloi II stated clearly, “so I guess it’s time for us all to part ways.”

Shirou found himself nodding along with Sakura, Tohsaka and Illyasviel before noticing that the rest of the group all seemed to grimace at that.

“I-is everything alright?” he asked the group in concern.

“The compulsion is a bit… annoying,” Waver Velvet responded with a sigh that made Shirou frown, “it made us all come to this city unprepared… so I think most of us don’t have any lodgings sorted out.”

That statement earned grimaces from most of the group and Shirou found himself with only one course of action.

“If you need somewhere to stay, then you can stay at my house until you’ve got somewhere set up,” he said without hesitation.

“Master!” his attention was drawn towards the girl that called herself Saber, “I must object to your decision, just because your house has enough room for these people doesn’t stop them from being potential enemies.”

“Wait, how do you even know his house is big enough?” Ciel sounded confused as she made that question.

“Because she was Emiya Kiritsugu’s servant in the last war,” Waver stated bluntly.

“Yeah, and he got the house with Einzbern funds,” Illya stated with an amused smile, “I’ve been told it has room for about ten bedrooms.”

“That does sound about right,” Sakura responded with a nod of confirmation.

“That doesn’t matter,” Saber spoke up firmly, “despite what may have been stated, you are all still potential enemies and inviting them into your home is not something I can accept.”

Shriou immediately felt himself frown at that statement.

“Saber, they’re not enemies and they need somewhere to stay the night,” he stated just as firmly as the girl he had summoned, “besides, I’m only letting them stay until they get something more permanent sorted out.”

“Thank you Emiya-san,” Luviagelita spoke up with a dignified tone, “it would certainly help most of us if we could spend a night or two at your residence.”

“And why do you need to stay with Emiya-kun Edelfelt?” Tohsaka’s voice called out with distaste clear in her tone, “doesn’t your family own two mansions in this city?”

Shirou found himself blinking in shock at that claim.

“While my family may have once owned property in this city, they were left to the mages association upon the end of the Third Grail War,” she didn’t seem too concerned by that statement.

Rin’s grimace of annoyance was clear to Shirou at the very least.

“W-well,” he decided to try and gain everyone’s attention, “my house is this way.”

“Thank you Emiya-san,” Ciel spoke up easily, “I was originally planning on sleeping at the church but…”

“But Gilgamesh took it over,” Waver stated with a grimace of his own.

“I still disagree with this course of action,” Saber stated with a clear sense of dissatisfaction.

“It’s fine,” he quickly said once again before turning to Sakura, “Sakura, I know it’s a bit sudden, but would you be able to come by a little early tomorrow?”

He doubted he could get enough food made for everyone here alone.

“O-of course Sempai,” her response was quick and seemed almost… happy?

“Emiya-kun,” his attention was drawn towards Tohsaka who was now looking at him with a sickly sweet expression on her face, “I have to agree with Saber that what you’re doing is foolish.”

“Noted,” he responded bluntly, “but I’m not leaving them homeless.”

“Thank you Emiya-san,” the man with the long black hair said with a defeated sigh of his own, “I do have to ask if I would be able to use your phone for an international call tonight.”

“Ah, yeah… just try to keep it short,” he accepted without issue.

“Thank you again,” the man once again thanked him.

“So, is everyone ready?” Aozaki asked, earning several nods of agreement and a couple of sighs of defeat.

“Come one, it’s still a little way to go right now,” and with that, Shirou found himself leading a large and unique group to his home for the night.

He just hoped he could figure out a reasonable explanation to give Taiga in the morning.


	2. The First Day Part 1

** Tuesday: 13th Jan 2004 **

 

Gray could do little more than yawn as she found herself waking up at sunrise.

Looking around, it didn’t take long for her to remember just where she was.

The home of the boy that her master called Shirou Emiya.

It was certainly a big house, what with how there was enough room for most of them to have a room to themselves, with the servants included in the equation.

Despite that though, she had to admit, it had a certain homely feel to it that the dormitories and her master’s apartment back in London lacked.

Releasing a sigh, she quickly found herself rising from her sleeping position and stretching in preparation to leave the room.

(~hihi, So, how does it feel to see someone else with your face?) a familiar voice asked from near her right hand and made her frown.

She had never quite understood why her master had been so uncomfortable seeing her face but now she could see why he wanted her to wear her hood most of the time.

She was the spitting image of Saber and for someone who had once fought against that servant, it was only natural he’d be uncomfortable around her.

But she shook her head clear of those thoughts and decided to not answer the voice, it wasn’t like doing that would do any good anyway.

Moving out of the room, she wondered what she should do, her master, despite his claim to wanting to participate in the Grail War, had failed to make sure she was prepared to come to the country.

Well, at least everyone else seemed to be capable of conversing in the local language, she would just have to wait to learn what was being said from her master afterwards.

Looking to her right, she noted the large garden that she had noticed the previous night, which meant that she should be just in front of the living room and kitchen.

(~hihi, you smell that?) the voice from near her right hand spoke up quietly and she found herself closing her eyes and focusing.

There was a clear smell of food coming from the room but there were just so many scents that she couldn’t tell what was what.

Her ears weren’t any help either, what with how there wasn’t enough noise to make out anything on the other side of the wall.

Swallowing nervously, she opened the door and looked at the room inside.

The first thing that stood out to her was the lack of people at the table, with only the Servant with long purple hair sitting there, though she was wearing far less revealing clothes, with a pink cardigan and a long skirt instead of the leather ensemble… though her blindfold remained.

The second thing she noticed was the pair that were working quietly in the kitchen, everything about their posture and the way they worked together telling her that they were perfectly comfortable in that situation.

They were both masters from what she recalled, with the red haired boy being Shirou Emiya and the girl that was working with him, Sakura Matou.

“おはようございます, Gray-san,” Shirou called out upon noticing her and she found herself freezing in response… a response that clearly worried the boy, “だいじょおぶ ですか.”

She could do nothing more than stand in silence before mustering up the courage to speak.

“I-I’m sorry,” she didn’t know if they’d realize what she meant but it was all she could do right now, “but I don’t know any Japanese.”

She gave a bow before a few seconds passed.

“Ah, sorry,” the words came from the boy and she found herself looking at him in surprise, “I didn’t know you couldn’t speak Japanese.”

He was speaking English.

Sure, it was filled with pronunciation errors and a clear awkwardness, but it was still understandable as English.

“Y-you can speak English?” she found herself asking with a tinge of hope, maybe she wouldn’t be completely unable to communicate while she was here.

“We basically live with our English Teacher,” the girl that was cooking with him spoke up with less awkwardness in her speech, “she made sure we were at least passable in her subject.”

Gray found herself relaxing at that, at least she could communicate with the group even if it would be slow and awkward.

“So Gray-san,” she didn’t understand exactly what he meant by adding the san to the end of her name but decided it was probably not important, “why don’t you take off your hood?”

“Ah, my master told me to keep it up,” she answered honestly, it wasn’t like they weren’t allowed to know why she kept her hood up after all.

“Why does he want you to keep it on?” the red head asked with a frown of clear confusion.

“… I think he doesn’t like my face,” she found herself responding uncertainly… that may be what she concluded but she wasn’t entirely sure that she was right.

“Ah… well, it’s okay if you take your hood off if you want,” Shirou told her calmly and she found herself inwardly wondering whether she should do so or not.

“Thank you Mister Emiya, but I think I should keep it on,” she found herself deciding that it was probably better if she didn’t annoy her master even if she was being given permission by the owner of the house.

“Just Shirou is fine,” the boy responded with a soft smile, “well, breakfast will be ready soon so feel free to take a seat.”

“Thank you,” she found herself responding before looking at the table.

It was low.

Very low.

And it was also surrounded by cushions.

It wasn’t like any table she’d ever sat at before and she found herself wondering if there was a specific way she was supposed to sit at it.

At least there was someone already seated at the table for her to try and copy.

The servant of the young woman cooking with her host was not so much sitting, and more kneeling at the table with her knees resting on the cushions.

Hopefully copying that posture would be the right thing to do.

Kneeling at the table, she found herself looking at the servant once again, unsure of what to think of being so close to a being of such immense power.

The blindfold was strange but then again, she was a servant so she was likely more than capable of acting without her eyesight.

Time seemed to drag on as she waited for breakfast, there wasn’t really much to talk about, the Servant that was nearby didn’t seem particularly talkative and Shirou and his… girlfriend? Were too busy preparing breakfast to really start a conversation with her.

Eventually however, she found herself looking towards the door as it was almost slammed open and she found herself staring at the face that she was used to seeing in the mirror and not on another person.

“Master…” the Saber Class Servant didn’t sound particularly happy given the way she almost growled out the title.

“Good morning Saber,” Shirou spoke up and she noticed a hint of confusion appear on the Servant’s face, “breakfast won’t be long.”

“Master,” the blonde haired woman was still clearly unhappy with the situation, an unhappiness that only seemed to increase when he laid eyes upon the other Servant in the room, “it is bad enough that you refused to let me sleep with you,” the girl that was cooking with Shirou seemed to jump at that claim before looking between the two with a large blush on her face, something Shirou seemed to share with her at the moment, “but to enter the presence of another Servant without me is beyond reckless.”

“Saber,” Shirou spoke up with a firm tone, “you don’t need to sleep with me and I had to get up early to prepare breakfast.”

That statement certainly did not appear to appease his servant who simply gave him a small glare before speaking up.

“You have invited potential enemies into your home,” the statement was clear as the woman that shared her face continued without reservation, “I shall not sit by idly as my master proceeds to try and get himself killed.”

“I’m not trying to get myself killed,” the red headed teen responded bluntly, “and no one here is an enemy either, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“They’re magi,” the girl that was cooking with him spoke up, “magi… normally can’t be trusted.”

Gray found herself quietly agreeing with that statement.  Her experience at the Clock Tower had shown her that while there were some exceptions, many magi were more than happy to lie, cheat and murder to achieve their goals.

“But aren’t we all on the same side here?” his response made her somewhat smile… it was refreshing to see someone who was just so… simple.

After dealing with magi for so long, it was definitely nice to see someone that she probably wouldn’t have to second guess or question the motives of too much.

Unless this was just a ruse… if it was then that would be disappointing.

“Just because we were told we are on the same side does not mean we _are_ ,” Saber stated firmly but it seemed her statement wasn’t going to get through to the homeowner.

“Even so, for now, we’re not actively working against each other, right?” he said with a frown, “so it’s pointless to keep treating everyone like an enemy.”

“BWAHAHAHA!!!” Gray found herself nearly jumping in shock at the bellowing laugh that permeated the upon the entrance of her master’s servant, “well said Master of Saber!”

“Rider…” her teacher proceeded to groan out with a clear sense of defeat permeating his tone.

“Good morning Iskander,” Shirou spoke up, “feel free to take a seat, breakfast should only be a minute or so now.”

“Master!” it was clear that Saber was not appreciating her master’s friendliness towards other people.

“Meh, lighten up a little Saber,” Iskander spoke up with a clear sense of amusement, “there’s no use making enemies when there isn’t a need.”

“Just because you don’t understand the concept of being careful does not mean my master should practice the same attitude,” the blonde servant stated firmly.

“Heh, yet it’s a good attitude to take,” another voice cut in and Gray found herself looking at the blue haired caster as he appeared at the entrance of the room with his summoner standing close by, “after all, it’s much easier to make alliances if you don’t burn your bridges as soon as you come across them.”

That statement seemed to make the Saber Class servant consider the situation before releasing a sigh.

“You make a good point Caster,” she admitted, “however I doubt that is what my master is aiming for.”

Gray quickly found her attention drawn away from the conversation as a series of very large bowls of rice and vegetables were laid down on the table by the purple haired girl that was helping out in the kitchen, before the red head put a pair of large bowls of what she was certain were scrambled eggs and toast down as well.

“Can everyone stop arguing,” Shirou spoke up, drawing attention to the table, “breakfast is ready.”

And with that, he and the girl moved back to the kitchen and picked up another couple of bowls each.

It didn’t take long for the table to be filled with dishes of all sorts, ranging from sausages and bacon to what looked like soup with large white cubes floating in it, while a couple of pots rested in the centre containing what Shirou claimed was tea and coffee.

“This is quite the selection Emiya,” the Fraga woman seemed to be surprised by the variety of dishes before them… Gray couldn’t blame her, she was just as surprised by the variety.

“Thank you McRemitz-san,” Shirou responded easily, “but I did have Sakura helping me, so I only had to do the Western dishes.”

Looking at everything on the table, Gray quickly decided what she wanted to try and made to reach for some of the toast before a familiar voice spoke up.

“Be careful Gray,” her master’s voice called out and she found her attention drawn to him, “make sure you check everything you eat for any foul play.”

She found herself frowning at that.

She was certain Shirou wasn’t the type of person who would try something like that… but he was her master so she probably should listen to him.

“What do you mean?” her attention was drawn to Shirou but instead of her master answering, the girl he had been cooking with spoke up.

“He thinks we might have poisoned the food or something similar,” the girl seemed to understand what her master was talking about and didn’t seem at all phased by it.

“Why would we do something like that?” the red head seemed confused at the explanation.

“Because everyone thinks everyone else is a potential enemy,” the girl spoke softly and with a clear air of unhappiness about her.

“… well… then I guess it can’t be helped,” and without any more words, the red head made his own way to the table and started to gather his own breakfast.

Upon seeing the boy doing that, Gray immediately started to analyse the food she was going to collect to her plate… and slowly came to the realisation that she could find _nothing_ wrong with the food she was picking up.

There were no harmful substances added, no traces of magical energy or anything else of that nature infecting the food, beyond that, everything seemed to be cooked to near perfection from what she could tell.

It didn’t surprise her that there was nothing wrong with it, but the apparent skill that went into cooking it was a little surprising.

Then the door practically slammed open.

“おはいよございます!!!” the loud call of the red coated servant with raven hair came out clearly and almost gave her a heart attack at its suddenness.

“Good morning Demon Archer,” Shirou spoke up, causing the servant to stall and look at him in confusion, “Gray here can’t speak Japanese… uh… you can speak English right?”

“Of course I can!” the red eyed girl responded with clear annoyance at his question, “all Servants know all languages thanks to the Grail!”

“Good morning Emiya,” Gray found her attention drawn towards the Demon Archer’s master… Luviagelita Edelfelt.

It was strange seeing her in a situation like this, after all, they hadn’t exactly started off on the right foot the first time they met… mainly because her master was someone that the girl disliked with a passion.

The relationship had grown far less hostile since then but being threatened with death wasn’t something she was going to forget all the quickly.

“Good morning Miss Edelfelt,” Shirou responded, “help yourself to some breakfast.”

“Thank you Emiya,” the girl in blue answered without hesitation before taking a seat and collecting some food.

Gray found herself watching her closely, wondering if she would perform any analysis of the morsels laid before her and noted a few movements that were not exactly obvious unless you were looking for them, indicating that she was indeed checking the food before tasting it.

The one named Demon Archer didn’t seem to have the same hesitation.

“Archer!  Why aren’t you checking it before eating?!” Luvia practically hissed out quietly.

“Why would I?” the raven-haired servant asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because it could be poisoned!” the blonde-haired girl stated with a hiss earning a sigh of annoyance off Shirou.

“It isn’t,” the brash servant stated firmly, causing her master to stall in confusion.

“And what makes you so certain of that?” it was clear that the Edelfelt magus was confused by that statement by the red eyed servant.

“Well, he summoned a Knight right?” the way the servant said that like it was obvious made most of the magi at the table frown, “why would someone compatible with a Knight use underhanded tactics like that?”

That seemed to make everyone freeze in surprise.

Gray even found herself wondering why no one else had thought of that… a Knight, a warrior bound by honour and required to follow the code of Chivalry was not someone that should be summoned by someone unscrupulous enough to poison their guests.

“BWAHAHAHA!!!” Iskander roared in clear amusement.

“Heh… seems we got very lucky last night,” the Caster spoke up with his own amused grin.

“What’s with all the noise so early in the morning?” suddenly, Gray found herself freezing just like her master, the Fraga and Luvia as someone else entered the room.

The vibrant red haired woman that her master had told her could utilize the Fifth True Magic… Aoko Aozaki.

Sure, she didn’t understand what her master meant but his explanation that she was a magus capable of destroying anything was enough to make her worried.

“Good morning Red,” Shirou didn’t seem anywhere near as worried as the woman proceeded to take a seat at the table with her servant nowhere to be found.

“’Morning,” the response was clearly sleepy and the way she immediately started to eat without checking her food was something she found herself surprised at, “so… why is everyone speaking English?”

“I’m sorry… but I can’t speak Japanese,” it was definitely starting to get old having to explain the reason for the language shift, especially given how it kept making her the centre of attention.

“Which raises the question of why your master hasn’t taught you,” Luvia spoke up while glaring at the very person in question.

“To be fair miss Edelfelt, it isn’t exactly easy to learn a new language,” Shirou spoke up, making the girl look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you mean that you learned English the _normal_ way?” she sounded half surprised by that little possibility.

“Well, yeah… I didn’t even know there was another way,” the boy responded with confusion in his tone.

“I suppose that does explain your awkwardness and terrible pronunciation,” Luvia admitted out loud, causing the boy to blush and look away, “… I suppose it shall fall to me then, given that Lord El-Melloi II doesn’t seem to be taking an active role in teaching his apprentice anything of use.”

The way her master seemed to just grumble without actually disagreeing made her frown.

“I assume your master did not teach you the basics of learning a new language using the magus method,” the blonde girl stated and Gray found herself nodding slowly, she didn’t remember him ever explaining how to do something like that before after all, “then I shall deign to teach you and Emiya the proper method.”

“Ah,” Gray found her attention drawn towards the girl that had been cooking with Shirou, “could I join the lessons as well?”

“Didn’t your family teach you the method?” it seemed that the blue clad girl was surprised by that possibility.

“… my grandfather raised me purely to participate in the Grail War,” the girl answered with a downcast expression.

“I… I see,” Luvia seemed almost uncertain of how to respond to that but quickly shook her head, “but there shouldn’t be an issue with you joining in on the lesson.”

“Thank you,” the purple haired girl bowed her head in response.

“おはいよございます Shirou-kun,” a completely unfamiliar voice called out from the door leading to the main entrance before it opened to reveal a woman with short, light brown hair, wearing a yellow top with black stripes and a green dress over it.

Upon seeing the group currently at the table, she seemed to freeze.

“Good morning Fuji-nee,” Shirou spoke up as he looked at her.

“Eh?” the woman seemed confused… and oddly fixated on Iskander, “EH?!!! Rider-san! What are you doing here?!”

Wait… what?

“Oh?” the servant sounded surprised at her question before a look of realisation crossed his face, “well, if it isn’t young Taiga!”

“Wait, hold on,” the homeowner spoke up, “you know each other?”

“Rider-san here was the person that inspired me to become an English teacher in the first place!” the woman spoke up with a firm confidence even if her speech was littered with mispronunciations like Shirou and his girlfriends was.

“I… I see,” Shirou sounded surprised by that revelation and Gray honestly couldn’t blame him… to find out that his English Teacher was inspired by a Servant wasn’t something that could be easily predicted.

“Still, as good as it is to see you again,” the brown haired woman spoke up before her expression suddenly darkened, “why exactly are you in my little brothers house?”

Gray almost felt threatened by the question and the tone behind it but found herself looking at the Saber class Servant that rose from the table.

“That would be my fault,” the blonde servant stated firmly, drawing the attention of the teacher, “I am an old friend of Kiritsugu’s, so when our group discovered our hotel bookings had been fraudulent after losing most of our belongings, we came here to see if we could stay for a few days... to find out that Kiritsugu died and had a son was a surprise but Shirou was kind enough to let us stay here.”

That explanation seemed to make the brunette frown before releasing a sigh of defeat.

“That… definitely sounds like something Shirou would do,” Gray found herself blinking at that, the fact that this woman seemed perfectly willing to accept the possibility of such an altruistic reason did give a good indication of the type of person Shirou was, “so, you said you lost most of your belongings?  Is that why some of you are wearing such weird clothes?”

“Yeah,” Gray focused on her master as he acknowledged that, “we’re a LARP’s group but _someone_ ,” the small look he passed onto the Archer class servant made it clear he was implying her, “forgot to collect our things when they were assigned to that.”

Gray found herself somewhat thankful that the raven haired Archer didn’t seem to be paying any amount of attention to him and instead was more focused on guzzling down the food she had taken for her breakfast.

“I… see…” the woman named Taiga seemed like she understood where they were coming from but released a sigh anyway, “how long do you plan on staying here?”

“We’re actually thinking of moving to Fuyuki,” Lord El-Melloi said with a shrug, “so we were going to see about possibly staying here until we can get more permanent accommodation sorted out… it shouldn’t take long, we have resources available back home that we can use.”

“Wait!  You’re going to be moving here?!” the English teacher seemed genuinely surprised by that claim… with a somewhat excited air about her as well before she started to frown, “I hope you aren’t planning on taking advantage of my little brother’s hospitality to freeload off him.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Gray found herself looking at Luvia upon the European magus crying out with a tone that made it clear she found the possibility insulting, “ _I_ at the very least fully intend on contributing to this household in any way I can for as long as I remain here.”

“And with how rich your family is, I’m sure you won’t have any trouble providing,” Waver Velvet spoke up without hesitation, earning a firm nod of agreement from the blonde haired magus.

“Wait… did you say rich?” the teacher seemed to perk up at that.

“I am the heir of a long line of European Aristocrats… money is no issue for me,” Luvia responded without hesitation.

“… if money isn’t an issue for you, then why are you here anyway?” Taiga asked with narrowed eyes.

“Convenience,” the response was quick and simple, “because of the time when we discovered our bookings were fake, we didn’t have time to figure out if anywhere else would be available.”

“Come on Fuji-nee,” Shirou spoke up once more before continuing, “I have room and I’d rather they didn’t have to waste their money on a hotel.”

The frown that adorned the woman’s face was clear.

“… fine…” it was obvious the woman wasn’t happy with his statement but would deal with it anyway.

“Oh… and Fuji-nee… there are still a few more people who are still in bed… so don’t be surprised when they come in,” The red head stated with a sigh.

“Even more…” the woman seemed almost concerned… before immediately rushing to the table and filling a plate with a large amount of food.

“Fuji-nee, don’t be greedy, leave some for everyone else,” the boy stated with narrowed eyes.

“No,” it was a firm and simple statement from the woman and Gray found herself wondering just why the woman would make that decision, “if my little brother isn’t going to cook enough for everyone then I’m going to make sure I get enough for myself.”

“Fuji-nee, I cleared out everything to make all this,” Shirou stated bluntly, “I don’t have anything else to cook if it runs out.”

That statement seemed to give the woman pause.

“Hmm… it’s not good to horde food to yourself just because you’re greedy,” the giant red headed servant stated with a frown, “everyone needs to eat so you should learn to share.”

After looking at the giant of a man for several seconds before looking at the dish he had himself, the woman finally seemed to relent.

“Fine… but make sure you buy more than enough to make up for this, do you understand Shirou?!” and the woman seemed to hold the boy responsible for this situation.

“Yes Fuji-nee,” the defeated tone the boy gave only made it clear that he wasn’t even going to bother arguing about it.

“So, Rider-san,” the woman seemed more than happy to return her attention towards the King Of Conquerors, “how are you doing these days?”

“Hmm… I still have much left to accomplish,” the Servant of the Steed stated with a firm nod before grinning broadly, “which means there are still many things that I can focus my efforts on!”

“I see,” the woman named Taiga responded with a clear and firm nod of acknowledgement.

Further conversation was prevented when the door was opened once again, this time revealing the member of the church who wore glasses.

“Morning,” Gray found her attention drawn towards the Aozaki woman as she spoke up before anyone else had the chance to do so.

“Good morning,” Ciel didn’t seem phased by the sudden greeting but quickly turned to Shirou before offering a small bow, “I am sorry for being so late but I had some business to take care of on the phone.”

“Ah, that’s not a problem Ciel-san,” the red headed boy spoke without any hesitation, “help yourself to some breakfast.”

“Thank you,” and with that the short haired girl proceeded to help herself to the food that was available though she was clearly looking for something she failed to find.

“Is there something you would like Ciel-san?” Emiya asked without any trace of displeasure at the fact she was clearly not satisfied with the meal before her.

“Sorry, I just really like curry,” she admitted, earning a surprised look off the young man.

“Ah... do you have any you prefer?” it was obvious he was seriously thinking about her response and the girl from the Church seemed to think about it for a couple of seconds before speaking again, “spicy ones.”

“Then I’ll see what I can do tonight,” the red-headed boy confirmed without any real level of thought, “though I do have to let you know that curry isn’t a speciality of mine when it comes to cooking.”

“Thank you Emiya-san,” the girl with glasses responded with a clear level of surprise.

“My, you certainly are being accommodating Emiya-san,” Luvia spoke up with a clear sense of amusement in her tone... though whether that was actual amusement or just her being haughty was questionable.

“He’s always been like this,” Gray found her attention once again shifting to the Tiger-woman as she spoke up with an almost pained expression, “even at school he is known as the ‘fake janitor’.”

“... what?” the blank stare given to the woman by the blonde magus made it obvious that she hadn’t been expecting such a statement.

“He keeps helping out whenever anyone asks him... he’s probably saved the school a good hundred thousand yen repairing everything,” the enthusiastic woman seemed almost annoyed by that claim.

“Fuji-nee, stop exaggerating,” Shirou stated with an annoyed expression adorning is face, “I haven’t fixed _that_ much.”

“Well, you must be loved by the teachers if you go out of your way to do stuff like that,” Aozaki spoke up with a clear sense of amusement in her tone.

“He’s always been like that... always going out of his way to help people whenever he can,” Shirou’s guardian stated with a frown before starting to grin broadly, “you should’ve heard what he wanted to be when he was younger.”

“Fuji-nee,” the red-head sounded almost exasperated as he said her name.

“A superhero!”

...

What?

“Bwahahaha!!!” Iskander barely let the claim settle in before he had started to laugh.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to help people,” Shirou sounded almost annoyed at the fact he was being laughed at but the giant of a man spoke once again.

“Maybe, but you should be a bit more selfish in your dreams!” the Rider Class servant proclaimed jovially.

“It’s not as selfless as you’d think,” the boy responded quietly.

“Oh?  And why’s that?” the question was clearly mean to get to understand the boy better but he simply shook his head in response.

“It’s nothing,” the way the boy dismissed the question made it clear that he wasn’t happy to share his reason for that claim.

“That’s enough Rider,” her master spoke up and she found herself looking at him as he made motions towards the youngest red-head’s guardian.

Ah, so it must be something that can’t be mentioned around the woman.

“Come on Shirou!” the Taiga woman spoke up excitedly, “why don’t you want to share it with Rider-san?”

“It’s personal,” the response was spoken quickly and Gray found herself wondering just why he would want to be a superhero… he didn’t seem like the sort of person who wanted the fame or glory so what reason would he have for wanting to save everyone?

Or was she thinking about what a Superhero was incorrectly?  She thought it was someone who saved everyone, but was he meaning that or was he meaning having superpowers or something like that?

It was confusing.

Once again, her attention was drawn towards the door as it opened to reveal the girl wearing the Atlas Academy uniform.

“Good morning Sion,” once again Shirou spoke up and caused the girl to blink owlishly before responding.

“Good morning,” she seemed to focus her attention on the selection of food that was currently on the table.

“Feel free to take whatever you want,” the home owner stated easily and the girl seemed to consider the different dishes before answering.

“Thank you, Emiya-san,” and with that she proceeded to collect some of the available food for herself much to the normal human’s obvious displeasure, “… are you certain I’m allowed this?”

“Ignore Fuji-nee, she’s just a freeloader.”

“Hey!”

“If you are certain,” and with that Sion proceeded to continue taking food from the dishes scattered across the table.

“Shirou!” the legal guardian of their current host whined petulantly while the boy simply proceeded to ignore her.

“Well, I think it is obvious who the mature one of you two is,” Luvia spoke up with an amused grin on her face.

“That’s not hard,” Saber’s master responded bluntly.

“Shirou!” the woman with short brown hair cried out with a clear pout on her face.

“You’re not helping your case there Taiga-san,” Aoko spoke up with a grin etched onto her face.

The grimace that the normal human gave was a clear indication that she wasn’t happy with the current situation.

Gray found her attention moving across the table, noting the minor conversations that were happening between individuals and found herself wondering if things were going to stay like this.

After all, this atmosphere was nice.

Eventually, the woman named Taiga, the purple haired rider and the Sakura girl proceeded to rise from their seats.

“Ah, can you stay here?” Sakura spoke to her servant, earning a small frown from the woman before she nodded and returned to her seat.

“Well… I guess it’s time for us to go,” the brown-haired woman said with a frown, “if I find out any of you have done anything you shouldn’t have… I will introduce you all to Tora-shinai!”

Gray found herself blinking in confusion at that while Shirou simply shuddered.

Clearly this ‘Tora-shinai’ was dangerous.

A chorus of agreements spread throughout the room and Gray found herself nodding in acknowledgement herself.

It wouldn’t be very nice of them to take advantage of his hospitality anyway.

“Why leave Taiga-chan!” Iskander spoke up with his usual bellowing tone.

“She’s the supervisor for the Archery Club,” Shirou spoke up bluntly, “and Sakura is a member too so they have morning practice to attend.”

“Tch,” Gray found her attention drawn towards Demon Archer who seemed to be finishing off her meal, “why bother practicing such a silly thing when you could be using guns?”

“WHAT?!!!” the woman that was apparently supervising the Archery club cried out in shock, “THAT’S NOT THE POINT!!!”

Gray found herself wondering just what the problem was.

Demon Archer did have a point, Guns were more effective in the modern era so why waste your time practicing with a bow?

“*sigh*… Archer-san, they’re not going to be using the bows for anything more than competitions,” Shirou spoke up with a clear sense of defeat in his tone.

“Guns are still better,” the red eyed woman stated firmly.

“They’re also illegal in this country,” that statement from Aoko seemed to make the raven-haired Servant stall before slowly turning to face her.

“What?” the way she spoke made it clear that she couldn’t believe it.

“You’re not allowed to own a Firearm in this country,” Luvia stated bluntly.

“That’s it!” the hyperactive archer stated firmly as she shot up from her seat, “the first thing I’m going to do after I conquer Japan again is legalize guns!”

“That’s the spirit!” it was clear that Iskander was more than happy to support that goal.

Wait… _again_?

“YOU ARE NOT CONQUERING THE COUNTRY!!!” ah, it seemed Luvia was more than willing to deny the Archer class servant their wish of taking over the country.

“Eh?  But I need to conquer it if I’m going to take over the world,” the matter of fact way that she said that statement made it clear that to her, there was no question that she was going to do that.

“…”

Silence reigned as even Iskander took a moment to process that… wait, no, he was just grinning to himself.

“Archer-san,” Shirou spoke up slowly and deliberately, “no plotting to conquer the world in my house.”

“Huh?  Why not?” she seemed confused by that statement.

“Because this is my home, not a military base,” he stated bluntly and Gray found herself somewhat agreeing.

“So?  It’s a nice place and has good food too!” the servant stated with a grin, “so it makes the perfect place to plot!”

“Archer… either accept Emiya-san’s conditions or you shall find yourself missing a few meals,” Luvia stated firmly, causing the dark-haired girl to jerk in shock.

“What?!”

“You heard me,” the Edelfelt heir stated firmly, “it is rude to take advantage of a host’s hospitality and try to ignore their house rules.”

It was clear that Demon Archer was not at all happy with that at all.

“Still, don’t worry about the Chuuni Taiga-san,” Aoko suddenly spoke up, causing the red cloaked Servant to splutter in clear displeasure at whatever she was being called, “don’t you have to get to school?”

“Y-yeah,” the brown-haired woman responded before nodding her head firmly, “Shirou, don’t let these people make you late!”

 “Don’t worry Fuji-nee, I’ll be on time,” the boy responded offhandedly.

“Come on Sakura, we’ve got to go,” and with that the English Teacher proceeded to make her way to the front door.

“Hmm… see you later Senpai,” and with a soft smile, Sakura followed the hyperactive teacher.

It didn’t take long for the door to be closed and the only non-magical person in the room to be gone.

“Archer…” Gray found herself backing away from the blonde-haired Magus as she gritted out the class of her Servant, “do _not_ , I repeat, do _not_ , say anything like that around the uninitiated again… am I clear?!”

It was clear that she was not happy with the fact that her servant had caused the atmosphere to become awkward previously.

“Why not?” the clear cluelessness in the red-eyed servant’s voice was clear to everyone present.

“Because normal people don’t talk about taking over the world!” Luvia stated firmly.

“… I have a reality marble… do you really think I’m normal?” that statement was made bluntly and caused the blue clad magus to freeze.

“Oh?  You too huh?” Iskander spoke up with a large grin adorning his face.

“Uh, I’m sorry… but what’s a reality marble?” Shirou asked with confusion.

“Basic gist,” Waver spoke up with a bored tone, “it’s were a being has such an inhuman way of thinking that their magecraft reacts to that and proceeds to follow different rules to everyone else.”

Gray found herself blinking at that.

“Huh…” the red-head seemed to consider that for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“Yeah, it’s not normally found in humans… or even Servants for that matter, since they’re usually starting from a human base,” Aoko stated with a shrug.

“I… see,” Shirou seemed distracted by the thought before shaking his head, “anyway, does anyone know when Hans, Avenger or Lancer are going to get up?”

“I am awake now,” the deep voice of the little Caster came from beyond the door, “however I doubt you wished for your guardian to encounter me.”

“Oh, ah, sorry Hans,” the red-head immediately stated as the door opened to reveal the youngest looking servant, “anyway, help yourself to some breakfast.”

The Servant gave a calm nod of acknowledgement before starting to collect some food for himself.

“Y-you’re all missing the point!” Luvia spoke out with irritation clear in her voice, “Archer, I don’t care if you have a reality marble or not, we are not supposed to give ourselves away to the regular humans!”

“So what?  They’re going to find out when I conquer the world anyway,” the confident servant stated bluntly, earning another irritated expression from her master.

“Good luck with that,” Iskander spoke up with amusement in his tone, “Gilgamesh has already laid claim to this world, so if you try to take it from him, you’ll probably die.”

That statement seemed to make everyone go quiet.

“So what if he’s laid claim to it?” the almost angry tone that the Archer who apparently preferred guns used made it clear she wasn’t happy with that statement, “if he wants this world then I’ll just kill him instead.”

“Easier said than done,” the red-headed king stated with an amused grin, “throughout the entirety of the previous Grail War, the closest anyone got to harming him, was destroying one of his noble phantasms… and he has _every_ treasure in the world with each acting as an independent Noble Phantasm.”

“So what?  I’m the perfect foe to take him down,” she claimed without hesitation.

“I used my reality marble against him… and he destroyed it from within,” the largest person in the room stated easily, “do not underestimate his power Archer.”

It was obvious from the way the girl seemed to be looking down on the King Of Conquerors that she wasn’t happy with that declaration.

“Fine, I’ll just take my time and deal with him when he’s at his most vulnerable,” she seemed to semi-relent on the point.

“That’s not the point!” the master seemed to be about to pull her hair out in frustration, “you shouldn’t be planning to conquer the world full stop!”

“Edelfelt-san… I don’t think Archer-san will ever listen to that,” Emiya spoke up with a defeated tone of his own.

“Tch…” Luvia was obviously not happy with that statement but took a breath before speaking, “it certainly seems that way… but it doesn’t stop it from being frustrating… at this rate I’m going to have to use a command seal to put a stop to this.”

“Uh,” Shirou started to speak before Waver interrupted him.

“The marks on the back of your hand… they’re seals that grant you absolute commands over your servant… though each magus only has three available to them,” the Clock Tower Teacher stated with a sigh, “you really have no idea about anything do you?”

“Not really… all my dad really taught me was Structural Analysis and Reinforcement,” the boy admitted, earning a sigh off the rest of the room, “oh, and Projection… but he told me that I should focus on Reinforcement.”

“Yeah, Projection is one of the least efficient magecrafts out there,” Waver admitted easily.

“Heh,” the group immediately turned their attention to the adult Caster in the group, “well, if you’re that low on knowledge then I guess I could give you some pointers.”

The entire room seemed to freeze over at that statement.

A Magus being taught Magecraft by a Caster Class Servant was not something that was normal from what she was aware.

“Caster… what are you doing?” the Fraga woman asked with clear concern on her features.

“What?  The kid seems like a good guy,” the blue haired Irishman stated with a grin, “plus, he’s got an interestin’ smell.”

“Uh… what do you mean?” Shirou sounded confused by that.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” the servant responded easily.

“Caster,” the Saber class servant who had remained quiet for most of the meal suddenly spoke with a steel in her voice, “if you try to harm my master then I will kill you.”

“Meh, it’s fine Saber, you can even oversee the training yourself if you want,” the Servant of the Spell responded easily, “though it is a shame I’m a Caster… if I was in my best class then I’d love to fight you.”

The grin the man gave the swordswoman made it clear that he really did like the idea of facing her… the battle lust in that expression was clear even to her after all.

Thought the statement didn’t seem to ease the Servant of the Sword.

“Can everyone please just get along?” Shirou spoke up with defeat clear in his tone.

“I’ve got no problem with that,” Aoko said without hesitation.

“Bwahahaha, same here,” the boisterous call of Iskander was obvious.

“I suppose that is doable until we confirm the truthfulness of our supposed employer’s statements,” Luvia admitted herself.

“No issues on my part,” Ciel agreed.

“Heh, I guess there is no issue as long as the rest of you swear your loyalty to me!” the red clad archer stated with a smug grin.

“No,” everyone immediately responded to that declaration and caused the Servant of the Bow… or was it Gun? To jerk in surprise.

Gray honestly found herself watching the argument Demon Archer was making with a soft smile slowly drawing itself upon her face.

The atmosphere was once again warm and inviting and she couldn’t stop herself from admitting that staying here probably wouldn’t be bad… it certainly beat the Clock Tower Dormitories.

“By the way,” Shirou once again spoke up, “where are Avenger and Lancer?”

“Ah, Avenger should still be in his room,” Ciel spoke up, “I told him not to come out since your guardian was here… and wispy clothes aren’t normal.”

“I see,” Shirou seemed almost relieved at that, “do you want me to go and get him?”

“Nah, that’s fine, I’ll go since he’s my Servant,” the Executor stated easily as she rose from her seat and made her way towards the door.

“And what about Lancer?” the red-headed boy asked the girl named Sion.

“He told me last night that he isn’t a morning person, so he won’t be attending breakfast… ever,” the purple haired girl stated while looking at the other servants at the table.

“Ah… I see,” Shirou spoke with a clear sense of regret in his tone, “well, I guess there’s nothing else for it then.”

Eventually Ciel returned with her Servant and Gray was once again left hoping things could stay like this for a long time.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Shirou could do little more than release a sigh as lunch started.

He had been a little worried that he wouldn’t make it to school on time given the sheer number of dishes that would need to be washed, but Gray had offered to do them for him and he had found himself relieved of that chore.

Because of that, he had managed to make it to school relatively early all things considered.

School itself had started normally but his mind was still focused on the situation he had found himself in.

To think, he was acting as the ‘master’ for a legendary hero that he didn’t even know the identity of.

And he had a sister.

That was probably the most shocking part of the entire situation… though it only just beat out the fact that Sakura and Tohsaka were Magi in that regard.

“Hey, is that Tohsaka?” he heard a voice ask from a couple of seats away and he found his attention drawn towards the owner of the voice.

“I think so,” another person said, “but why’s she pacing around outside?”

Shirou found his attention drawn towards the door and noticed that Tohsaka was indeed pacing back and forth in front of his class’s door.

He found himself wondering why she was doing that before she turned and their eyes met.

Almost immediately, she jerked her head to the side in a clear sign that she wanted him to leave the classroom.

He let out a frown of confusion as he moved out of his seat and made his way to the corridor and the waiting Tohsaka.

“Emiya,” he didn’t get a chance to speak before she was already talking to him with a commanding air to her, “come to the roof… I need to talk with you.”

And with that, she proceeded to leave him and head towards the stairwell.

He could really do little more than blink as he proceeded to follow her and eventually reached the roof with no one else in present.

Almost immediately, she turned to face him and he found himself taking an instinctual gulp upon seeing her eyes looking at him so coldly.

“Why didn’t you inform me that you were a magus?” she asked and he found himself blinking in confusion.

“What do you mean?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking her in response.

“As the Second Owner of Fuyuki, you should have informed me that you were practicing Magecraft here,” she stated firmly and Shirou found himself blinking in confusion.

“Second Owner?” he couldn’t do anything more than repeat that term blankly.

“You… you don’t even know what a Second Owner is?” she sounded almost pained by that observation.

“Sorry… all my dad really did was teach me a couple of basic spells, that to be a magus was to walk with death and that I should keep my magecraft a secret,” he admitted with a sigh… he was seriously beginning to curse the fact he wasn’t taught all this stuff that was coming up right now.

“… tell me Emiya-kun,” Rin started to speak slowly and calmly, “did you know any other magi in this city?”

“Well… I know Sakura but she never told me she was a magus so I never knew until last night,” he admitted, earning several seconds of silence off the girl he was currently talking to before she released a sigh of defeat.

“So you were completely ignorant of pretty much everything,” she summarized while rubbing her temples with her fingers.

“Yeah…” he admitted with a sigh of his own.

She seemed to stare at him for several seconds before speaking again.

“Do you believe what the gold guy said about the current situation?” her question made him blink before frowning.

“I hope it’s true,” he admitted without any trouble, “after all, if it’s true then that means I can save people.”

Rin seemed to blink a few times at that declaration.

“So you’re just the type who wants to help people,” she muttered, causing him to nod in agreement, “is that why you took in all those other masters and their servants?”

“They needed help and I could help them,” he answered honestly, earning a sigh off the girl.

It took several seconds but eventually she spoke up once again.

“Be careful,” she definitely sounded worried and Shirou found himself wondering why she would go out of her way to say speak to him like this, “even if it turns out that Servant at the Church is telling the truth, there is no guarantee that the magi you are hosting won’t use that opportunity to kill you.”

He could do little more than frown in response to that.

“Why would they try to kill me?” he didn’t understand why they would do something like that, none of them seemed like the sort of people who would do something like that.

“Because they’re magi and magi can’t be trusted,” the girl before him stated firmly.

“But aren’t you a Magus too?” he asked her rhetorically.

“Yes, so I will warn you… don’t trust me, or even Sakura… there’s no telling what a Magus will do to you if you put your trust in them,” she claimed and Shirou found himself frowning at that.

“But if you don’t want me to trust you, then why tell me not to?” he asked in confusion.

“Isn’t it obvious that telling you not to trust me is likely to get you to trust me?” she responded without delay and Shirou found himself thinking about the current situation.

She was trying her hardest to get him to not trust anyone… but in doing so she was letting a few clear emotions slip.

“You’re kinder than I thought you were Tohsaka,” he stated with conviction.

“W-w-w-what?!” she practically spluttered out as her face started to go an almost violent shade of red in response to his statement.

Shirou found himself almost laughing at her reaction as he came to a decision.

“Do you want to join us for dinner?” it was a simple question and he noted the way she continued to stare at him in clear disbelief.

“N-no, thank you,” she seemed uncertain of how to respond to his question.

“Are you sure?” he asked once more, “you can bring Archer with you if you want.”

Admittedly, he somewhat hoped she wouldn’t bring the man, he just knew they wouldn’t get along after all, but he wasn’t going to deny him a meal at his home.

Tohsaka seemed to think about the situation for a few seconds before finally answering again.

“I want your word that if anyone tries to attack me or my Servant, you will protect me,” she finally said and Shirou found himself quickly agreeing.

“As long as you don’t start the fight then I don’t have a problem with that,” he admitted without hesitation.

“I suppose that’s fair,” she responded with an almost amused tone.

“Thank you Tohsaka,” he said before wondering if she was feeling all right given how frequently her face seemed to flush, “um… have you seen a doctor?”

“Eh?” she seemed surprised by that question before frowning as the red hue started to die down again, “what do you mean?”

“Well, you face keeps flushing so I thought you might be sick,” he pointed out, noticing how the red hue started to return once again.

“Y-y-yes!” she stuttered out before carrying on in a clear rush, “it’s nothing major so don’t worry about it!”

Shirou could only nod in response to that.

If it wasn’t anything serious then it shouldn’t be a problem.

His mind moved onto another potential issue.

“Uh… it isn’t contagious, is it?” the way she seemed to freeze at that question made him frown.

“N-no!  Nothing like that,” she sounded very hasty to make that claim but he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt… he doubted she was going to intentionally spread it to everyone.

“Okay then,” he didn’t bother pressing any farther and instead decided to just let her know what the plans were for later, “so, after school I’m going to have to go and get some groceries since feeding everyone wiped out my supplies.”

She blinked several times before nodding her head firmly.

“I see,” she spoke easily and he found himself giving a small nod of his own.

“I guess I could take you to my house before I go shopping,” he said easily earning a shake of her head in response.

“T-that’s fine, I already know where you live,” he had to blink at that.

“How?” he found himself asking and quickly noted how her face seemed to go a deep shade of red again.

“T-t-t-that’s… Ayako!” she blurted out and he blinked several times, “Ayako told me where you live!”

“Really?” he thought back to it and realized that Tohsaka and Mitsuzuri-san did seem pretty close whenever he saw them together, so the idea that she had been told by the Archery Captain wasn’t all that surprising, “I guess that makes sense.”

She nodded in response to his claim and he found himself giving her a soft smile.

“Then, I guess I’ll see you later Tohsaka,” he said calmly, earning another nod off the girl.

“Yes, I’ll see you later Emiya-kun,” and with that, she proceeded to move past him without hesitation and he decided he should get his Lunch while he still had time.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

“Emiya,” Shirou looked up to see the bespectacled form of the Student Council President, a boy who had been his friend since the start of High School, Ryuudou Issei.

“Hello Issei,” he responded easily as he continued to pack his bags in preparation to leave.

“I’m sorry to spring this on you, but the air conditioner in class 3C broke down,” the boy spoke and Shirou found himself cringing at that, “would you be able to have a look at it?”

Shirou felt himself inwardly cringing at his friends timing… he wanted nothing more than to help him out… and if it had happened the previous day then it wouldn’t have been a problem.

“Ah, Emiya-san,” he was interrupted by a confused voice coming from the doorway and he found his attention drawn towards a boy from his class, “there’s a group of girls waiting for you at the front gate?”

Shirou found himself frowning in response to that statement, unsure of who would be waiting for him.

“Ah, sorry Emiya, I didn’t know you had plans today,” Issei spoke up quickly and Shirou found himself looking at his friend.

“Sorry Issei, I could have a look at it tomorrow if you want?” he quickly made a suggestion for a compromise, earning a grateful smile off the Student Council President.

“Thank you Emiya,” Shirou couldn’t stop himself from noticing the relief in his bespectacled friend’s tone as he gave his thanks.

“Well, I guess I should get going,” he spoke calmly as his mind returned to the question of who would be waiting for him.

“Then I will see you tomorrow Emiya,” and with that, Shirou made his way out of the classroom and towards the school entrance.

Eventually he left the school building and immediately noticed the group that was waiting for him among the crowd of students.

“Eh?  Edelfelt-san? What are you doing here?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking upon seeing the blonde-haired magus standing with Demon Archer and Saber… though he did find himself wondering why Saber was wearing new clothes while Demon Archer was still in the clothes she was called forth in.

“Oh?  Have your forgotten about your task today already?” the European Magus asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You mean the grocery shopping?” he asked with a frown, “of course I haven’t forgotten about that.”

That seemed to gain a hint of surprise from the girl who started to frown.

“Did you forget she’s gonna be paying for it?” the red-eyed Archer asked with a grin on her face and Shirou found himself stalling at that.

He was so used to paying for things himself that he hadn’t even considered the possibility of her coming with him.

“Y-you did?” Luvia sounded almost surprised by his lack of response, “well then, I suppose it is a good thing I decided to come and meet you here.”

Her tone was filled with a haughtiness that Shirou couldn’t recalling ever really hearing in anyone before.

“T-that is a big help Edelfelt-san,” he admitted with a sigh of relief, “plus, with Saber-san and Archer-san here, we should be able to get everything back home more efficiently.”

*Eh?!*

Shirou found his attention drawn towards the side of the gate upon hearing something but found the area vacant.

He let silence reign for several seconds while keeping an eye on the area, wondering if someone was spying on him.

Sure enough, he noted a mop of silvery grey hair starting to come out from behind the wall before revealing a dark eye that was resting behind a very large spectacle lens.

Almost immediately the eye widened before the head ducked back behind the wall.

Shirou found himself frowning as he tried to remember where he had seen those traits before, before his mind recalled the Track Team.

“Are you all right Himuro-san?” he asked without hesitation and receiving no answer for several seconds.

Eventually the girl proceeded to leave the area behind the wall and stand up straight and with an air of confidence that he could immediately pick up on.

“Yes I am, thank you for your concern Emiya-san,” the girl spoke firmly and Shirou started to open his mouth before finding himself cut off by the other magus in his current group.

“You certainly did not look as if you were fine,” she spoke with a knowing tone, “if anything, it looked like you were spying on us.”

Shirou found himself inwardly frowning at that statement by Luvia, while he inwardly agreed with that observation, he didn’t know _why_ she’d be spying on them.

“O-of course not!” the girl spoke in a way that sounded very suspicious, “a-anyway… I have to get to track practice… bye!”

Shirou found himself blinking dumbfoundedly at the sudden departure of the bespectacled girl… especially since he was certain the track team didn’t meet on a Tuesday.

“That… was strange,” he found himself saying bluntly.

“Indeed,” the European Magus stated in response, “I suppose I shall have to enquire as to whether that girl is one of us or not.”

Shirou found himself nodding in agreement at that decision by the blonde who quickly turned to face him once more.

“Now Emiya-san,” she spoke with an authoritative air as she addressed him once more, “I believe it is time for us to prepare for tonight.”

The red-head nodded in agreement as he once again turned to the Servants and looked at Saber once again.

She was no longer in the blue and silver armour she had been summoned in and was instead wearing what looked to be a rather expensive set of clearly tailored black trousers, shoes and a dress shirt.

Honestly, if it had been tucked in and had a jacket and tie, it would have definitely made her look like a CEO of a company or something similar.

“What happened to Saber’s clothes?” it was a simple question and he immediately noticed the blue dressed girl perking up.

“Obviously, I cannot simply ignore the plight of the person currently giving me a room for free,” she spoke up easily, causing him to look with a frown.

“Do you mean you bought Saber new clothes?” it was the obvious way of interpreting the statement but he wanted to make sure.

“Indeed… though Archer has proven to be rather… difficult in that department,” she stated with a frown towards her own Servant.

“Well, there was nothing there worth my attention!” the red coated gun nut stated firmly, “besides, I’m more than capable of making my own clothes myself!”

Shirou honestly didn’t know how to respond to Archer’s claim and so instead decided to just point out his thoughts to Luvia.

“Edelfelt-san… you didn’t have to buy Saber clothes for me,” he stated bluntly.

“And what did you plan on doing?” she asked and he found himself frowning.

“Well, I was going to go out and buy some later,” he responded without any real hesitation.

“Then I saved you a trip,” the blonde magus stated without a hint of concern.

“Yeah… but those clothes look expensive,” he pointed out with a frown.

“It is fine, I _am_ rich after all,” her response made him release a sigh.

“Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you should be careless with your money,” he pointed out, silently worried that she was too liberal with her spending.

Silence reigned after that and he proceeded to start to worry about her as she simply looked at him with a clear hint of surprise on her features.

“Uh, are you okay?” he asked and she quickly snapped out of her stupor.

“Y-yes, I am, thank you for your concern,” she responded quickly before glancing away from him, “we should probably get going now.”

Shirou found himself dismissing her previous state as he acknowledged her statement.

“Yeah,” and without any further comments between the two, they started moving away from the school as he decided to open conversation with his own Servant, “so Saber… why are you here with Edelfelt-san?”

“I refuse to leave you alone in the presence of another master,” she stated bluntly and Shirou found himself inwardly sighing at that.

“I… see…” he honestly didn’t know how to get the little blonde to trust everyone… but then again, he wasn’t really sure they _could_ all be trusted even if they seemed like nice enough people, “and what about you Archer-san?”

“Huh? Me?” the raven-haired girl seemed almost surprised before releasing a grin, “I’m here to pick out the food I want of course!”

“You are also going to help carrying the groceries as well,” Luvia stated firmly, causing the gun-nut to look at her with raised eyebrows.

“Huh? What do you mean?” it was obvious that the girl had not been expecting that.

“There will obviously be a lot of groceries to bring back so you will have to help,” the European Magus responded firmly, “between you, me, Saber and Emiya-san, I feel we should be able to get everything to his home without too much difficulty.”

“Eh?  Why not just hire a taxi?” the girl in military garb asked bluntly.

“That would be a waste of money,” Shirou immediately responded, “it’s close enough to walk so a taxi would just be wasteful.”

“But isn’t that what she wants to do?” the hyperactive girl asked bluntly, “wasting money for no good reason?  Since she’s like that, why was her first intention to _not_ waste it?”

Shirou found himself frowning at that question.

“I… I…” Luvia herself seemed uncertain of how to respond to that question and Shirou found himself releasing a sigh.

“I take it you’re not as rich as you claim you are,” he concluded easily, causing the girl to burst at him.

“I _am_ as rich as I claim I am!” it was obvious that she wasn’t happy with his deduction, “I… just don’t like wasting money on worthless things.”

She sounded rather defeated as she made that claim and Shirou frowned.

“Then why do you keep doing that?” it was the obvious question, if she didn’t like wasting money, why was she so insistent on it?

“Because I am an Edelfelt,” her statement was made with a conviction that made it clear that that alone was enough reason, but she continued regardless, “we are an incredibly wealthy family and as their heir, it falls to me to flaunt that wealth… that is what my family has told me for as long as I remember.”

That… sounded like something a family he couldn’t understand himself, but he was at least aware enough to understand that flaunting wealth was something many people liked to do.

“So you are expected to flaunt your wealth, while you yourself care only for the practicality of that wealth,” Saber spoke up and Shirou noted the way the blue dressed magus seemed to almost slump in defeat.

“Essentially… yes,” she was obviously not happy with the current train of conversation, “however, I would appreciate it if you did not spread this knowledge around… at all.”

“I guess that’s okay,” he responded after a few seconds… it wasn’t like it would be a problem after all.

“As long as you buy me what I want, then I don’t care,” the little demon stated with a shrug before continuing, “so I want a Tank!... and a jet fighter!”

“No,” the magus answered immediately.

“Why not?!” the dark-haired girl cried out in clear distaste for that response.

“Because, I do not trust you to act responsibly with either,” the answered was quick, simple and blunt.

Personally, Shirou found himself agreeing with her on that point.

“I concur with your master,” Saber spoke up before the red coated girl could respond, “you are clearly lacking in your ability to think through your actions.”

“Hey!  I’ll have you know I almost conquered this country back when I was alive!” the girl stated firmly.

“Archer!” once again, Luvia snapped at her servant for carelessly speaking about who she was.

“What?” the dark-haired girl asked with annoyance.

“Stop, talking about your identity!” the clear frustration in Luvia’s tone made it obvious that she hated having to deal with her Servant’s complete disregard for secrecy.

“Why? It’s not like it matters,” the frustratingly obtuse servant responded without hesitation.

“Of course it matters!” the statement was made without any hesitation, and Shirou found himself wondering why it was so important.

“Why is it so important that we don’t know their names?” he asked with a frown.

“Because knowing who they are, can let you understand their weaknesses… like say… the servant was Achilles, what would you do if you had to beat him?” she spoke and he frowned.

“Well… I’d go for his hee-…” he stalled as it finally clicked in his head why it was so important for a Servant’s identity to remain a secret.

The smug expression on Luvia’s face made it obvious that she knew he had understood the point.

Not that it was hard.

“Well I don’t have a stupid weakness like that,” the Archer class servant stated firmly, causing her master to cringe in clear annoyance.

“Shut up Archer!” and yet again, Luvia demanded she shut up.

Shirou for his part started to think about everything he knew about the Servant.

She was Japanese from what she said, she liked guns, she nearly conquered the country and hated the gods… there was honestly only one figure he could think of off the top of his head that filled those conditions and that was not a woman.

“Well, I don’t know who Archer-san is,” he admitted without hesitation, “there is one person I can think of who fits… but…”

“But what?” Luvia sounded cautious as she prompted him to carry on his explanation.

“Well, the only person I can think of was a man,” he admitted with a shrug.

“Heh, well I _am_ remembered as a man,” Archer responded almost instantly, causing Luvia to splutter in clear disbelief.

And Shirou just stalled as he tried to process just what that meant.

“So… does that mean that you’re Oda Nobunaga?” he asked uncertainly.

“Yep,” the response was quick and simple, earning a clear cringe off her master.

Shirou for his part started to cringe at that knowledge… he would have to keep her away from the temple and Issei if that was the case.

“I see…” he responded as he thought about the situation.

“What do you plan on doing with that information Emiya-san?” he found his attention drawn back towards the Raven-haired Servant’s master as she asked that simple question.

“Do my best to keep her away from my friend and the temple he lives at,” he admitted bluntly, “I’d much prefer not having them torched to death.”

That response seemed to surprise the girl who simply stared in disbelief at is claim.

“… is that it?” she seemed like she couldn’t believe that that was all he intended on doing with the information.

“Well, yeah… what else would I do with it?” he asked bluntly, causing Luvia to continue staring for a few seconds before shaking her head and offering an almost amused smile.

“If you truly do mean that,” she spoke with a slow shake of her head despite her almost fond tone, “then you are either naïve, or simply too nice to be a magus.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from grunting in response to that, it wasn’t like he couldn’t think of other things to use the information for, after all, given her clear intention of keeping Oda’s identity a secret, it would be easy to blackmail her over it, or use it to take advantage of the servant or any number of other tricks… but all of that involved assuming they were enemies and right now, he was holding out in the hope that things were as simple as they appeared and that such a thing wouldn’t need to be used.

“Well, it’s not like I _can’t_ think of anything else to do with it,” he decided to be truthful, earning a raised eyebrow from the blonde magus, “but I’m hoping that everything is as it seems… in which case, I’d rather everyone gets along… so I’d rather avoid doing something to cause resentment from you.”

“So… idealistic more than naïve or kind,” her response was said with a hint of amusement in her tone, “I suppose I can live with that.”

Shirou found himself offering her a small smile of his own as he glanced at the Demon King of Japan and the way she was currently acting almost like a child.

“Still…” he spoke up with a frown as he considered the situation with the Archer, “I doubt her identity will remain a secret for long given how bad she is at keeping secrets.”

“True,” Luvia seemed almost defeated as she made that claim before raising her left hadn to reveal the strange marking that adorned the back of it, “Archer, by the power of my Command Seals, I order you to remain quiet about your history and identity.”

Shirou’s eyes widen as a piece of the tattoo like marking glowed before fading from his view.

“What was that?” he asked in confusion, earning a small grin off the blonde magus.

“Masters are all given three command seals,” she spoke easily, “three absolute commands that can be given to their servants.”

“Are you really that obsessed with me not speaking?” the almost angry tone that escaped the lips of the red coated Servant made it clear she was not happy with the idea of being forbidden from speaking of her history.

“I’ve told you time and time again that you are not to reveal your identity to the other masters,” the blue dressed girl stated firmly, “and look what that ended with… we are simply fortunate that Emiya-san is as idealistic as he is, otherwise we would be in quite the predicament.”

“And you thought that using one of those seals would be worth it,” the girl was definitely not happy with the situation, “and what is stopping me from killing you for daring to give me a command?”

Almost immediately, Shirou found himself stepping between the two, earning blinks of surprise off everyone in the group.

“Archer-san… I get that you don’t like being ordered around,” he stated as calmly as he could, “but Luvia is your master isn’t she?”

“Master?” the way that word was almost spat made it clear that she wasn’t happy with that phrase, “she isn’t my master… she simply has the honour of acting as my retainer.”

“W-w-what?!!!” it was obvious that Luvia was not happy with that declaration, “I _am_ your master!”

“Retainer!” the firm declaration of the raven-haired emperor was made without hesitation.

“Uh… Edelfelt-san,” Shirou spoke up once again, “I hate to say this… but isn’t Archer-san supposed to have a reality marble?”

That seemed to make the blonde magus freeze before releasing a sigh of defeat.

“She did claim that…” it was obvious that she wasn’t happy with that acknowledgement but given how she seemed to deflate at that made it obvious she had given up, “but how am I supposed to deal with her?”

Shirou found himself wondering how to deal with the Servant… she was obviously stubborn beyond reason, so focused on a specific type of action that she’d put everything else to the side and she wasn’t prepared to have anyone argue with her about it.

“As frustrating as it is… I think you should probably just give up trying to change her mind about anything,” he pointed out bluntly, he knew no one could change _his_ mind when he made a decision and as much as he didn’t want to admit it… some of the traits the arrogant servant showed reminded him of himself.

“Heh, it seems someone here understands their place,” the red eyed girl stated with an amused smirk, “now, if only you would learn your own.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from sighing as he tried to figure out a way to keep both of them from killing each other.

“Edelfelt-san… just… give it time,” he advised, “eventually she’ll probably start to listen to you… at least a little, but now probably isn’t the best time for it.”

It was obvious that the other human wasn’t happy with the advice but finally released a sigh as she seemed to make up her mind.

“Very well… however,” she sounded a bit more certain that before as she spoke up, “is it not a retainer’s job to make sure their master doesn’t do anything too counterproductive or… stupid?”

“Edelfelt-san is right,” Shirou decided to pipe up himself, “you were known as the Fool of Owari after all.”

“I guess that’s true,” the gun nut admitted with a frown.

“So if Edelfelt-san is to act as your retainer, shouldn’t you listen to her advice?” he asked, causing the dark-haired girl to grimace.

“I… I guess?” she seemed unhappy with that idea, “but just because I was known as the Fool of Owari doesn’t mean I’m stupid!”

“Yeah, but you _have_ shown yourself to do things without really thinking about them,” Shirou pointed out, “so listening to the advice of someone who thinks things through wouldn’t hurt would it?”

“… I guess,” it was obvious that even if she didn’t really want to do as suggested, he was managing to get through to her.

“Now, is there anything you want for dinner?” he asked in the hope that doing so would allow him to end the discussion in Luvia’s favour.

“European food!” she immediately responded without any hint of hesitation and a massive grin.

Shirou could do little more than release a small laugh at that.

“That’s not really telling me anything,” he pointed out, earning a laugh off the dark-haired girl.

“So?  Just give me plenty of western food and I’ll be happy!” she proclaimed easily.

“Okay then, I guess that’ll be fine,” he responded as he thought of how he was going to be making Western dishes anyway, “and how about you Edelfelt-san?”

“I have no preference, your cooking this morning was of an acceptable quality,” she answered without hesitation.

“How about you Saber?” he decided to ask the girl that had remained quiet throughout the majority of the journey.

“Anything is acceptable as long as there is enough,” it was a simple answer and Shirou found himself inwardly smiling at everyone’s lack of fussiness.

“I see,” he acknowledged without hesitation.

“Oh, and Emiya-san,” the blonde-haired magus spoke up and Shirou found his attention drawn towards her, “you need not refer to me as Edelfelt-san… simply Luvia is acceptable.”

Shirou found himself blinking at that before giving a soft smile to the girl.

“In that case, feel free to call me Shirou,” he responded after processing the statement.

“Very well, Shero-kun,” her response made him blink in slight confusion.

That was a bit more affectionate than he had expected… beyond that, her pronunciation of his name wasn’t quite right.

Oh well, it wasn’t like it mattered.

So he simply continued on the route to the shops in a surprisingly comfortable silence.


	3. Chapter 3

Rin couldn’t stop herself from sighing in defeat at the current situation.

She was going to Emiya-kun’s house for dinner… after finding out he was technically a user of magecraft (albeit, clearly not a particularly good one).

The fact he was a master was a bit of an issue but at the same time, he clearly had no intention of treating everyone like an enemy and even admitted that he wouldn’t mind fighting on her side if anyone attacked her… provided she wasn’t the one to initiate the confrontation in the first place.

That particular condition wasn’t something she was going to begrudge him, after all, he seemed like he genuinely did want everyone to get along peacefully and his naivety was somewhat comforting to her.

Of course, the whole conversation before had been… less than ideal in her eyes… he had managed to completely bypass her guard on multiple occasions just by being such a considerate person… she was just happy Archer wasn’t there when she had spoken to him… otherwise she was certain she’d never live it down.

And that servant hadn’t exactly been easy to deal with so far either.

Talking to him was like running headfirst into a maze filled with razor wire… avoiding all the barbs was almost impossible.

And she’d only known him for one night and morning!

Eventually, she reached her house and swallowed nervously… she wasn’t sure how her Servant would react to her revealing that she agreed to attend dinner with Emiya-kun but it was something she was going to have to do.

Opening the door, she was greeted by the sight of the white-haired asshole lounging around in a pair of trousers and a shirt.

At least letting him shop for himself hadn’t resulted in a massive disaster… plus, his original clothes weren’t completely outlandish and just made him look like he belonged in a bike gang.

“Welcome back Rin,” her servant spoke with a smirk that immediately got on her nerves, “enjoy your day at school?”

She almost growled at him at that.

Of course she didn’t enjoy her day at school, having to leave him there because he couldn’t astalize had meant that she was at a constant risk throughout the entire day.

Especially when she had been making her way to and from school, she had been completely open during those trips and was just lucky that no one had attacked her while she was undefended.

“Shut up and get ready to go out,” she commanded with a growl in her tone at the man who was treating her home as if it was his own.

“Oh?” the Servant sounded almost interested in her declaration, “I would’ve expected us to patrol later.”

“We’re not going on patrol,” she answered with a twitch, earning a raised eyebrow from the tanned asshole, “we’re…” she stalled as she considered what she was about to say, “we’re going to Emiya-kun’s for dinner.”

Silence reigned after she made that announcement and she found herself looking at the servant who was just blinking owlishly at her.

“W-w-what are you looking at me like that for?!” she asked, worried about that expression on his face given how he had previously treated her.

“We’re going to dinner at that boy’s house?” he honestly sounded surprised at that, “when was that decided?”

“At lunch today,” she admitted with a frown at the question.

“So you had lunch with him?” the man sounded almost amused at that.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, concerned about where this conversation was going.

“Did you enjoy your date with him?” she felt her face heat up at that question and found herself opening her mouth to deny his accusation.

“W-wha, I-I, i-it…” she tried to compose herself and deny it, but the knowing smirk the servant wore only irritated her even more, “s-s-shut up!”

She finally decided to just tell the snarky bastard to shut his mouth before turning away from him.

“And get ready… we’re going to Emiya’s house and I don’t want us to be late,” she finally managed to grind out.

“Already trying to give a good impression to him are you?” she grit her teeth as she glared at the servant of the bow who simply let out an amused grunt before rising from his seat, “fine, let’s get going then.”

And without any further comments, the man that was frustrating her to no end proceeded to quickly walk past her and she once again found herself walking beside the white-haired man while wondering if bringing him along was really such a good idea.

 

XXX FATE/GOLDEN ORDER XXX

 

Okay, this was boring.

That was the only thing that went through her mind as she walked along the street, both of her maids accompanying her due to the obvious absence of her stalwart protector.

Not that it was that big an issue in the first place, if she ever needed protection she could always just use a command seal and bring him forth in an instant anyway.

But her maids refused to let her go on her own... well, at last Sella refused to, Leysritt was only coming along because her sister made her.

However, regardless of that, the real issue was what had happened the previous night.

Everything had been turned on it’s head courtesy of that Golden Servant.

Even worse still, was learning that her adopted brother was completely ignorant of many different things she had assumed he’d have been told by their father.

Hell, there was even the revelation that he didn’t even know how to open his magic circuits!

It was a far cry from what she had believed the boy would be... her father’s replacement for her.

And he seemed to be... almost naive, what with how he had immediately accepted the explanation and invited completely unknown magi into his house without a second thought.

That all combined to make her very uncertain of the other mission she had outside of being a Master for the Grail War... her mission to kill Emiya Shirou.

…she would wait.

That seemed like the best option right now, wait and determine whether or not he was genuine in everything or if it is just a ploy to make people drop their guard.

So for now, she would just continue to check out the streets and see if there was anything interesting… after that she would probably go to the Emiya Household to check and see how things were going…

Or maybe not.

She could do little more than blink as she noted her adopted brother walking not far away with a casually dressed Saber, Edelfelt and Demon Archer.

The way the other master looked so... relaxed around him, made her immediately wonder what had happened... or if they had known each other from before.

It wouldn’t surprise her if her father had worked with the Edelfelt before and Shirou had met the heir when he was growing up due to those connections… but that _shouldn’t_ have caused her to look as relaxed around him as she currently did.

Confusion flooded through her as she tried to figure out why the blonde girl seemed so relaxed but quickly decided to shake her head clear.

There was another way to find out after all.

“Onii-chan!” she called out while waving her hand in the air to try and attract his attention.

“Ah, Lady Illyasviel, are you certain that’s a good idea?” the voice of Sella asked from beside her but she simply nodded, even if it turned out Shirou was just pretending to be nice, they were in the middle of the street and he was unlikely to attack openly.

She found herself frowning as he proceeded to ignore her.

Her eye twitched.

“Onii-chan!” she called out once again, this time with a bit more force… and once again, she received no response.

She found her temper growing at that.

Without any further thought, she charged at her adopted brother and with a mighty thrust, proceeded to tackle him with as much force as she could muster, knocking him off his feet and to the ground.

“Ahh!” he sounded shocked as he lost his balance and hit the floor but she didn’t care as she pinned him down, drawing the attention of everyone that was currently passing by and a cautious stare from the Saber Class Servant and the Edelfelt heir.

“That’s what you get for ignoring me!” she proclaimed with a glare of her own, before noticing the boy blink in surprise.

“Uh… what do you mean?” the redhead sounded confused as he frowned in response to her statement.

“She called out to you twice but you didn’t respond to either,” Saber spoke up and Illya found herself internally thanking the servant to pointing it out for her.

“R-really?” he seemed almost as shocked by that as did by the tackle.

“Honestly Onii-chan,” she started before stalling slightly upon seeing the look of realisation spread across his face.

“Oh yeah… I forgot I’m a big brother now,” he seemed to mutter to himself and she found herself internally laughing at that interpretation.

It wasn’t like he knew she was older than him after all.

“S-so that was you calling out for your brother?” he asked and she found herself easing slightly at that.

It did make some sense that he wouldn’t be used to being called that given that they’d only just met the previous night.

“Well... I guess I can forgive you for it _this time_ ,” she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, “but I expect you to notice next time.”

“Y-yeah,” he sounded almost uncertain as he made that acknowledgement.

“Well... if you two are finished with your sibling bonding,” the Edelfelt heir spoke up and she found herself looking at the blonde, “we were about to restock Shero’s provisions.”

Illya found herself narrowing her eyes at the familiar way the European magus referred to her little brother.

“Oh… and what exactly were you doing with my Onii-chan anyway?” she asked, deciding to continue feigning being the younger sibling.

“Naturally, as Shero decided to grant us Masters that had no previous arrangements a place to stay, I was going to finance this shopping trip,” the blonde magus stated without hesitation.

“Oh?  And why are you referring to him in such a familiar manner?” she asked earning a frown off the Edelfelt heir.

“It’s fine Illya,” her attention was drawn towards the boy that was still laying beneath her, “me and Luvia just came to an understanding.”

“And what type of understanding is that?” she decided to pry.

“Private!” and with the sudden and firm statement by the blue clad magus, she found her mind trying to race towards what could possibly have happened and why the Edelfelt Heir considered it to be something she shouldn’t know, “now, release Shero, he still has a large amount of shopping to complete and meals to cook.”

“Oh?  And why does he have to cook anything?” she asked the blonde with a frown.

“Uh… Illya… they need to eat too,” the voice came from beneath her, “and could you please get off me so I can get back to my grocery shopping?”

Illya found herself silently wondering just why he was talking about it as if it was natural for him to go out of his way to feed the other masters.

“So?” she decided to asked without hesitation, “they could easily get something themselves.”

His frown in response said it all.

“That would be a waste,” his voice was annoyed as he made that claim, “besides, it’s natural to feed people who stay with you.”

“Indeed, Shero is clearly a gentleman who understands the concept of propriety,” Edelfelt spoke up with amusement in her tone, “something his sister clearly failed to grasp.”

Illya immediately found her eyes narrowing at that claim by the blonde magus.

“What was that Edelfelt?” she practically growled out as she stood up and prepared to face off against the human girl.

“H-hey, come on,” Shirou called out uncertainly as he got off the ground, “there’s no need to get aggressive.”

“I suppose you’re correct Shero-kun,” the way the Edelfelt heir seemed to immediately concede to his statement made her frown.

Luviagelita Edelfelt was _not_ supposed to concede so easily.

And beyond that... there was the way she referred to him in such a familiar manner... especially by Japanese standards.

Certainly there was the possibility that she was unaware of those standards... but that was highly unlikely given her family and their tendency to travel all around the world due to their mercenary work.

“Fine,” she decided to accept the statement herself since she didn’t want to come off as unreasonable... even if she felt more than justified in continuing with her feud given the comment that had been made.

But burning bridges right now wasn’t the way to go.

“Okay… well, then do you want to join us for dinner Illya-chan?” she found herself somewhat perking up at that, sure she would be going into a building filled with Servants and masters, but at the same time, it would give her the opportunity to get to really know her adopted brother.

Plus, he had called her Illya- _chan_ so that was another point in his favour.

“That sounds like a great idea,” she admitted before turning her attention back towards the pair of maids that were standing ready, “come on Sella, Leysritt, we’re going to join Onii-chan for dinner.”

She received a pair of nods in acceptance from the duo before noting Shirou turning towards them with a look of… was that embarrassment?

“S-sorry, I didn’t notice you there,” he spoke up and it became obvious he was more annoyed at not noticing them than anything else, “I’m-”

“Emiya Shirou,” Sella cut him off with a clear sense of distrust in her tone, then again, she was the more severe of the two maids, what with how she was built for general duties as opposed to combat… and becoming the Dress Of Heaven, “I already know who you are.”

“Ah,” he didn’t sound too certain of how to respond to that so Illya found herself deciding to help him out.

“Don’t worry about that Onii-chan,” she spoke with an amused smirk on her face, “Sella was hired to serve me, so she can be a bit overprotective.”

Never mind the fact Kiritsugu had previously betrayed the Einzbern family and caused them to register Shirou as an enemy of the family due to association anyway.

“Ah,” Shirou’s reaction was obviously uncertain before his gaze moved to the other member of her maids.

“Hi,” the one who had actually been created to fight seemed far less concerned about the current situation... and seemed to earn a twitch of annoyance off her sister in the process.

“Uh... hi?” Shirou for his part, seemed uncertain of how to respond to her far less aggressive tone.

“That’s Leysritt,” Illya decided to point out, “she’s my bodyguard.”

“W-well, it’s nice to meet you,” the red-head eventually responded with a small bow.

Honestly, it was rather amusing to see him acting that way towards her maid.

“Uh...” he sounded uncertain before speaking up once again, “I know we’ve only just met... but are either of you any good at making Curry?”

“I am familiar with most forms of meal,” Sella admitted with a frown as she looked at the boy.

Of course, it was perfectly natural for Sella to be capable of cooking most types of meals given that she had had the knowledge directly integrated into her when she was created.

“Ah, then I’m sorry to ask this... but could you possibly help me with the cooking later?” the boy asked and she found herself frowning at that.

“Why do you want me to help you?” the sterner of the maids asked with a frown.

“Ah, because Ciel-san wants Curry and... well, I’m not that experienced at making it,” Illya found herself frowning at that.

“So what?” she asked with a frown, “if she doesn’t like the food you make then she can just buy her own.”

“Obviously you missed the fact that unlike you, Shero takes his status as host seriously,” the half-homunculus found her eye twitching as the Edelfelt spoke up yet again.

“It’s fine Luvia,” Shirou spoke with a sigh, “she has plenty of time to learn about that stuff.”

A pang of pain appeared in her chest at that.

Plenty of time.

As if a year could qualify as that.

Then again, it wasn’t like he knew she only had that long to live.

“I doubt your sister is unaware of proper manners,” the blonde magus spoke up once again, “it is far more likely she simply doesn’t care for propriety.”

She found herself bristling at that, while it may have been somewhat true… there was also another matter that she felt needed to be pointed out.

“So?  Onii-chan is already doing more for them than he should be… so why should he go out of his way to prepare their favourite meals?” she asked with a condescending expression adorning her face.

“Why wouldn’t I?” she almost lost her balance at his immediate question and the way he sounded completely confused by the concept.

She honestly didn’t know how to respond to his obvious earnestness and ended up finding herself just staring at him with a slack jaw.

“Uh… are you okay Illya-chan?” his voice broke through her stupor and she quickly removed the thoughts from her mind, it could be dismissed as him being too nice after all.

“Y-yeah,” she quickly acknowledged before looking away at the realisation that her adopted brother was probably not really thinking about their relationship as much as she was.

“Hey!!!” Illya found everyone’s attention drawn towards the Servant wearing red who seemed almost annoyed as she pointed at Shirou, “why are you wasting time arguing when you could be getting food?!”

 “Okay, okay Archer-san,” he spoke with a sigh of defeat, “I guess we should finish up the shopping, shouldn’t we?”

“Indeed Master,” the Saber class servant quickly agreed with a tone that almost sounded almost eager, “the longer we waste here, the longer it will be before dinner.”

The way the servant said that made Illya frown.

“Well, come on, we’ve got to finish our shopping and head back,” Shirou responded without any hesitation as he turned and started to continue on his way down the street, prompting her to follow him while everyone else also moved with the red-head.

But at least she was getting to have dinner with him, so that was a nice surprise.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Waver Velvet could do little more than release a sigh as he sat at the table of the Emiya Residence and watched his King play a video game he had gotten just earlier that day.

The fact that Emiya had a relatively modern Television was a bit of a surprise, even more so when he realized the kid had a DVD recorder plugged in and clearly knew how to use it if all the recorded shows he had were anything to go by.

Admittedly, the complete lack of pornographic material among it was a bit of a surprise when he had first noticed it, but then again, with someone like Fujimura Taiga acting as his legal guardian, it wasn’t all that surprising that he wouldn’t risk letting her see anything like that.

Of course, that wasn’t the only matter on his mind.

While Emiya had been gracious enough to let him use the household phone the previous night, it didn’t change the fact that the conversation he had had on it was… hard, to say the least.

Having to explain to Reines why he had just left the country without even telling her had rubbed her the wrong way, even after he explained his reasoning for why he didn’t inform her.

Things only got worse when he explained the situation to her.

The Fifth Grail War had been cancelled and all the servants, a full ten of them this time, were being summoned to act as weapons to enforce another servant’s rule over mankind.

Thankfully, he had managed to distract her with the idea that the person that was currently “hiring” him was _The_ Gilgamesh and owned _all_ the Treasures in the world and was therefore the richest person around.

He had also managed to avoid revealing the name of his current benefactor when it came to lodgings… though he was confident she would find out sooner or later… probably sooner knowing his luck.

That may end up being the hardest part of this entire ordeal… revealing to her that the adopted son of the man that destroyed her entire family’s legacy, was now technically an ally of her retainer.

He certainly did not look forward to that meeting.

He was cut from his thoughts upon hearing the door open and a voice call out in Japanese.

“Hello?  Emiya-kun?  Are you here?” he had to think a few seconds before he recalled where he had heard the voice before, it belonged to the last Tohsaka he had met just the previous night.

“He isn’t home yet,” he responded immediately, “but I don’t think he’d tell you to leave so come on in.”

It didn’t take long for her to appear in the largest room in the house with her servant following right behind her, wearing a rather simple outfit of black trousers and a white shirt.

“Greetings Lord El-Melloi,” she spoke without hesitation while giving him a small bow, “I am sorry for any intrusion but Emiya-kun invited me to join for dinner tonight.”

“What is your relationship with him anyway?” he asked out of curiosity, it was obvious that they knew each other without taking her word choice into account when talking about him.

“We go to the same school,” she answered without hesitation, causing him to raise an eyebrow at the speed of the response but decided to dismiss it.

It wasn’t like it was his business what their relationship was anyway.

“Well, given how naïve he seems to be, I’m not surprised he decided to invite you,” he admitted after a couple of seconds of thinking.

“Naïve?” she almost sounded offended by what he said, “does that mean you’re just taking advantage of him right now?”

It looked like she may have a protective streak concerning the boy.

“I’m definitely taking advantage of his hospitality right now,” he admitted without shame, “but it doesn’t change the fact that he invited a series of magi into his house without a second thought… and that is naïve at best.”

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the fact that the kid had apparently not even opened his circuits until the night of the summoning, he’d have expected it to be a trap… but now he was certain that the boy was just that damn nice that he hadn’t even considered the potential danger to himself when he had invited them to stay.

The grimace on the Tohsaka’s face told him that she thought the same thing as he did concerning his decision to invite them into his house.

“Still… the kid seems nice,” he continued, “and I don’t think anyone is thinking of betraying him right now.”

“What makes you think that?” she seemed curious now.

“Well… the Fraga, Edelfelt, Executor and Blue are Spellcasters more than Magi, while the Eltnam seems more focused on personal issues… making me the most traditional of the magi that came here,” he explained, “and even I’m considered an oddity back at the Clock Tower.”

“… so, most of the magi who were selected as masters are less likely to backstab him for no reason,” she concluded for herself.

“Yeah… on top of that, there is the fact that everyone knows he’s a rookie with no mysteries worth studying due to Gilgamesh opening his circuits at the summoning,” it was another important point.

In the end, betraying him held no benefits for anyone there.

“I suppose that’s another point,” she sounded almost relieved at that piece of information.

“So, what is your connection to him?” he decided to dig a little deeper.

“I told you, we go to the same school,” she responded without hesitation.

“If that was all there was to it, you wouldn’t be so concerned about him,” he pointed out, earning a minor grimace off her.

“That’s all there is to it,” she insisted.

“Then why is he still alive?” he asked causing her to jerk in response, “if he was _just_ someone who goes to the same school as you then as the Overseer of the area, you should’ve punished him for practicing magecraft without your permission by now.”

“It isn’t his fault his adopted father didn’t tell him anything,” she rationalized.

He found himself inwardly agreeing but he doubted that was the real reason… not given how defensive of him she sounded when talking about them taking advantage of him.

Of course, the fact that her Servant was smirking in clear amusement wasn’t helping her attempts at brushing it aside.

But at the same time, pushing too far wasn’t a particularly smart thing to do.

“Fine, let’s just go with that,” he decided to humour the girl.

“So, where are the other magi that decided to freeload off the kid?” the Archer class servant asked, possibly in an attempt to change the subject before his master could start arguing again.

“Well, Ciel had some things to take care of with her superiors at the church,” he answered without much concern, “my apprentice and Eltnam are currently in their rooms, the Fraga is looking for work, Miss Blue is looking around town and the Edelfelt went to assist Emiya in his shopping.”

He noticed the twitch that the girl gave upon hearing where Luviagelita was and found himself inwardly smirking at just how obvious she was being.

“And what about Saber?” the Archer asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Both her and Demon Archer are with Emiya and Edelfelt,” he responded with a shrug.

The girl who was still in her school uniform seemed rather uneasy about that but there would be plenty of time to tease her later.

“I see… I suppose that means he’s in safe hands,” the girl responded with an undertone of it being forced.

“I suppose so,” he responded to her claim without much concern, “well… I’m sure Emiya wouldn’t mind you making yourself at home.”

The girl seemed unsure of what to do but soon proceeded to sit at the table while keeping a careful eye on him.

He honestly couldn’t blame her.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Shirou found himself releasing a sigh of relief as he and the rest of the group he had gone shopping with reached his house.

Even with himself, Luvia, Saber, Demon Archer, Sella and Leysritt all carrying the groceries, he found that he’d ended up getting more than he had expected due to wanting to avoid having to repeat the process the following day.

“So this is where my grandfather bought for dad during the war,” Illya’s voice spoke up and Shirou found himself frowning in confusion before remembering that the situation he was in was very unusual.

“Why did your grandfather buy it for dad?” he found himself curious about that, he remembered hearing that the house was bought with Einzbern funds, but he didn’t really understand why it was.

“As a base of operations during the fourth grail war,” the little girl stated with a soft smile directed towards him.

“Why buy it though?” he found himself asking, “wouldn’t it be easier to just rent it?”

That seemed to get an amused giggle from the girl.

“It was easier for them to just buy the place,” she proclaimed, “I mean, us Einzbern’s are some of the richest magi in the world.”

That statement received an annoyed grumble from the blonde haired magus that was with them.

“Well… can you open the door for us Illya-chan?” he found himself asking, after all, she was the only person who wasn’t carrying something in each hand, “it should already be unlocked.”

Without a seconds hesitation, his little adopted sister proceeded to do just as she was asked, allowing him and the others to enter the house without any further delay, “thank you.”

That seemed to draw a smile from the little girl.

“We’re home!” he called out as soon as he crossed the threshold into the Emiya residence.

“Welcome back Emiya,” the voice of Waver called out and he found himself moving through the hallway without hesitation as the rest of the group followed him.

Upon entering the living room, he found Tohsaka sitting at the table with Waver, while Rider played a video game on the TV and Rin’s Archer sat in the corner watching everyone.

“Hello Emiya-kun,” the girl said without hesitation.

“It’s nice to see you made it Tohsaka,” he said even as he moved towards the kitchen.

“Oh, Tohsaka is here too?” he heard Illya’s voice cut in without delay.

“Einzbern,” Rin sounded suspicious as she responded to his adopted sister, “I see Emiya-kun decided to invite you as well.”

“Indeed,” the little red eyed girl admitted without a moments thought, “but then he is my brother, so it’s only natural he would do so.”

He noted the way Rin didn’t look too happy at that, but he decided to just ignore it.

“So, where is everyone?” he asked Waver who simply shrugged.

“They’re out doing their own things,” the man responded easily, “they should be back for dinner though.”

He nodded at that.

“Well, I’m going to get started on everything,” he stated easily, “would you be able to give me a hand Sella-san?”

The stern maid simply looked towards Illya who proceeded to  nod in acknowledgement.

“Very well,” the woman in white responded once she had received confirmation from her mistress.

“Thanks, normally Sakura would be here to help me, but she’s got more archery practice today,” he admitted.

“Both morning and evening?” Waver’s voice called out and he found himself nodding in acknowledgement.

“Yeah… MItsuzuri is pretty strict on them,” he admitted, “she wants them to make nationals this year.”

“From what I heard,” Tohsaka’s voice called out, “they would’ve made it last year if you didn’t injure your shoulder and quit the club.”

He found himself flinching at that.

Mainly because he knew how much Mitsuzuri hated his decision to quit… he had heard that she chewed Shinji out quite a bit for the comment on his shoulder scar.

She seemed to think that was the only reason he had quit.

In the end, it had just been one factor, with the other being that he had found he couldn’t really improve any further in the club.

“Hn,” without another thought he proceeded to start the preparations for dinner with the red eyed maid that had come with Illya moving to aid him.

“Oh?” Luvia’s voice called out and he found himself glancing at her in response, “I’m surprised you didn’t deny it.”

He found himself releasing a sigh at that.

“It’s because I can’t,” he admitted.

“Oh?  So you’re a good archer?” the voice the Rider sounded from his place near the TV.

“I guess,” he acknowledged.

“Oh?  Well what is your miss rate?” Nobunaga asked with a raised eyebrow and he found himself growing nervous.

“I heard from Ayako that you’ve never missed a target,” Tohsaka’s voice called out.

“She’s wrong,” he told her without hesitation.

“She told me you’d say that,” and he found himself grimacing, “that you’ll claim you missed _once_ … but she doesn’t count that.”

“W-why not?” he asked, causing her to grin.

“Because you muttered about missing _before_ taking the shot,” the girl said with a grin, “something along the lines of ‘I wonder what it feels like to miss’.”

He found himself groaning at that.

He honestly couldn’t deny that even if he wanted to.

“That is rather impressive,” Saber stated with  a curious expression adorning her face.

He found himself simply looking away as he continued to make dinner preparations.

“What’s wrong Onii-chan?” the voice of Illya spoke up and he found himself schooling his expression before turning to face her.

“Nothing,” he responded as he looked at the girl.

“It doesn’t look like it’s nothing,” she stated bluntly and he found himself simply chuckling.

“Sorry, I just don’t like talking about that sort of stuff,” he decided to admit, causing her to blink in response.

“Why not?” it was a simple question but he found himself cut off by Luvia.

“Perhaps it is simply humility,” the European magus suggested without hesitation, “Shero-kun seems to be uncomfortable with bragging.”

“Shero-kun?” he noted that both Rin and Waver sounded surprised by the way she addressed him.

“Master and Edelfelt-san came to an understand earlier,” Saber claimed with a frown of her own.

“Tch,” was that Tohsaka?

“Oh?  What is the matter Tohsaka-san?” Luvia’s voice sounded almost teasing as she spoke up, “you look quite irritated.”

“It’s nothing you need worry yourself with Edelfelt,” the native magus said with a tone that sounded like she was talking through gritted teeth.

Honestly, it made Shirou wonder just how badly dinner would go.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Sakura couldn’t stop herself from worrying.

She may have had archery practice, but she wanted to return to Senpai’s house to make sure everything was all right.

It wasn’t that she didn’t think he was in any immediate danger, but bringing so many magi into his house was not a smart move.

And even if it turned out that everything was as it was claimed to be, she found herself worried for another reason.

The number of beautiful women that had entered his household.

She didn’t expect him to love her, but it didn’t stop her from thinking about it… and if he ended up being involved with one of these other women, then she wasn’t sure how her heart would react.

And beyond that, there was the issue of her grandfather.

The ‘man’ was currently tasking her with finding out as much information as possible about the current situation.

He appeared to care only for winning the Grail War after all… and to find out that it was potentially being called off clearly did not sit well with him.

Not that many things did.

After all, Matou Zouken was probably the single most inhuman creature she had ever had the misfortune to know about.

Even what little she knew of Dead Apostles made him look even more monstrous.

Because when even Vampires appear more pleasant than someone, it was obvious that the world would be better off if someone exterminated them.

But in the end, killing her grandfather was a nearly impossible task, most likely completely impossible without killing her first… so she was simply going to continue being trapped under his control regardless of how much she wanted to escape her situation.

“Come on Sakura!” Fujimura-sensei cried out even as they walked towards Senpai’s house after they’d finished with the Club Activities.

“Coming Fujimura-sensei,” she acknowledged while speeding up.

It didn’t take them long to reach the house and she noted the smell already wafting from within, meaning Senpai had already started cooking without her.

Entering the house was no unusual experience for her and she soon found herself moving to make her way to the kitchen.

Her heart skipped a beat upon entering the living room and seeing Rin sitting at the table.

She hadn’t expected to see her there.

The way the older girl proceeded to glance away at her gaze made it clear there would be some awkwardness between them.

“Hello Sakura, Fuji-nee,” Senpai’s voice came from the kitchen and she immediately turned to see him cooking with some unknown figure.

“Eh?! Tohsaka-san?” Fujimura-sensei’s voice cut in and she found the woman looking at the new person in the house with shock, “what are you doing here?”

“Emiya-kun invited me to have dinner tonight,” her sist… the girl in red said without hesitation.

“Who is that?” another voice cut in, one far less familiar to her, leading her to look at the white haired girl who she had only met once before.

“Eh?  Who are you?!” her teacher cried out upon seeing the Einzbern magus.

“I am Illyasviel Von Einzbern,” the girl responded with a small curtsey, “now answer me, who are you?”

“That’s my legal guardian,” Senpai spoke up without hesitation.

“I see,” and with that, the smallest girl in the room nodded in acknowledgement.

“Shirou!” Fujimura-sensei cried out after a few seconds, “why is a little girl in your house?!”

“Because she’s Kiritsugu’s daughter,” he responded immediately, causing their English teacher to stall for several seconds.

“WHAT?!!!”

It was obvious she hadn’t expected such a response.

Sakura however, decided to simply head towards the kitchen.

“B-b-b-b-but Kiri never said he had a daughter!” the older woman said with shock in her tone.

That seemed to make the girl sink in sadness.

 “Yeah… it seems he was hiding quite a bit from us,” Senpai spoke up and Sakura found herself internally smiling at the way he said that.

There was no bitterness in his tone, as if he was just talking about the weather.

It was just more proof that he was truly a pure person, even when he found out that his adopted father had kept secrets from him, he refused to give in to anger or hate.

He was truly someone she could look up to.

“That’s… that’s…” it appeared that the brown haired teacher was having trouble even considering such a thing as possible, but she already knew that it was more than possible.

After all, when the situation she had been living in for the past ten years was so easily hidden, then that was nothing.

“There’s no way that girl can be related to Kiri!” Taiga proceeded to cry out eventually, “if she was, then why didn’t she live here?!”

“I don’t know,” Illya spoke with a bitterness in her tone, “my grandfather told me dad abandoned me for Onii-chan… but he also told me that Onii-chan _meant_ to steal dad from me, so I don’t think he can be trusted.”

That explanation made it clear that the girl wasn’t sure what to think right now… then again, from what that explanation said, it seemed that she was made to believe that Senpai was a cruel person… which was about as far away from what he actually was as was even possible.

“If that’s so, then why are you here now?” her teacher asked with suspicion clear in her voice, earning a shrug off the little magus.

“Grandfather sent me over here to do something,” it was a simple statement but Sakura found herself wondering just what this task was.

She was certain that if the Einzbern’s grandfather was anything like hers, then it would be something needlessly cruel and selfish.

“And what is this task he gave you?” it was clear Fujimura-sensei was suspicious too.

“Secret,” the response was made without a moments hesitation or concern.

“… you’re not helping your position here,” the Yakuza granddaughter said with narrowed eyes, earning another shrug off the girl.

“So?” it was obvious the red eyed girl really wasn’t concerned with the English teachers questioning.

“Shirou!  How can you trust this girl when she’s so suspicious?!” it was an obvious appeal to the redhead but he simply shrugged.

“Well, if it’s true then it doesn’t hurt to give her the benefit of the doubt,” he responded without any problems, “and if she isn’t, then it’ll come out eventually and we can deal with it then.”

“Shirou…” the older woman let out a groan of frustration.

“That’s how things are Fuji-nee,” Senpai responded firmly, it was something that was really impressive, how he was generally thought of as being a pushover at school, but most of the people there didn’t know just how firm he could be if he actually disagreed with something.

In the end, he wasn’t a pushover, he just didn’t have any issues helping others whenever they asked for it.

And with that, the conversation about his adoptive sister came to a rather solid end and she found herself flowing into the work flow that had formed between Senpai and the red eyed woman in white.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Ciel couldn’t stop herself from feeling tired.

Travelling to the Church’s base of operations in Japan wasn’t all that difficult, however, trying to explain the situation to the Vatican was much, much harder.

On one hand, they still wanted her dead, and now that Roa was gone for good, she was no longer immortal like she had been back then.

On the other hand, she was the one chosen by the Grail to act as a master for this new organisation that was being formed by a renegade Servant of the previous war.

Of course, the fact that she had ended up summoning an _Avenger_ Class Servant wasn’t something she had wanted to pass on to them, but naturally they demanded answers.

So now, the higher ups all knew she had summoned an Avenger, though given that she hadn’t managed to wrangle his name out of him, she couldn’t pass on that information.

At least she had managed to get away with simple instructions on what to do, mainly that she was to continue observing the situation and _if_ the statement Gilgamesh made about them performing another summoning was true, the church would be preparing a catalyst for her to use.

At least that would mean she wouldn’t have to deal with someone else as abrasive as Avenger was being.

After all, if she had to listen to any more Servants trying to make her give in to her anger and hatred, she was pretty sure she’d snap and do just that.

On their necks.

She had already gotten her revenge after all, so trying to make her give into that quest again was just going to make her lose the contentedness she felt at finally managing to let go of the baggage that came with her connection to Roa.

So why couldn’t that bloody servant just shut up already?!

She took some calming breaths, it wouldn’t do to get worked up when the bastard wasn’t even there… she should just enjoy her peace while it lasted.

And if he ever got too infuriating for her… well, she could just sic him on that thieving Vampire.

It didn’t matter who killed the other in that fight, it would probably be a win for her either way.

Though she would definitely put her money on the Vampire, especially since Shiki would probably help her kill the Servant.

She shook her head clear of those thoughts as she came upon the residence she was currently staying at until the Church arranged suitable accommodation for her.

It was certainly strange, to be welcomed into the home of a magus and _not_ find her food poisoned wasn’t something she had been expecting, neither was she expecting the mage to be so welcoming of everyone, even going so far as to claim that he’d try to make her some curry but that he wasn’t experienced in that style of preparation.

The worst part was that she knew the name.

Emiya, the same name as Emiya Norikata, a magus who wiped out a small island researching Dead Apostles before being shot to death by his own son.

A son that later went on to become one of the most successful mercenaries among the mages association until he vanished off the face of the map for almost ten years before returning to participate in the Fourth Grail War before vanishing once again.

Twenty years with practically no exposure had dulled the concerns of most magi, from what she was aware, only those who had been directly affected by Kiritsugu even bothered to pass on the stories of him to their children these days.

But she was old enough to remember what he was capable of.

Destroying an entire hospital to get a single Dead Apostle, shooting down the plane carrying his own adoptive mother… the man was certainly ruthless.

Yet she got no indication that ruthlessness had been passed onto his adopted son.

The boy was naïve, hadn’t even opened his magic circuits and seemed more focused on keeping everyone content than anything else.

She would probably have thought it was a trick, that the boy was lulling them into a false sense of security… but everything she saw indicated he truly was trying to help everyone.

But in the end, it was possible that she might end up having to kill him.

The same standard applied to everyone else in the house, what with how they were all magi that were selected to act as Masters in a _very_ unusual variation of a Grail War.

And as masters, it was only natural that they would probably have to kill each other eventually.

But for now, she would accept Shirou’s hospitality and try her best to not cause any trouble in the house.

Upon opening the door, she immediately noted the scent wafting from the kitchen, but called out a greeting anyway.

“I’m back,” it was a simple call but she found herself surprised to hear responses from within the house, prompting her to take off her shoes and move further in, “sorry if I’m late… I had business to take care of with the Church.”

“The Church?” she noted that the woman from the morning was sitting at the table and looking surprised at her statement.

The fact that the woman was unaware of the Supernatural side of the world would make skirting around the subject of what she was doing there necessary.

“The current priest at the Church here died not long ago,” she proclaimed, causing the woman’s eyes to widen, “since my group was on coming here anyway, I have been asked to relocate.”

She made sure to apply a subtle hypnotism to stop the woman from asking too many questions, feeling herself grow thankful that it worked as the woman dropped the matter.

“Anyway Ciel,” Shirou’s voice called in and she found her attention drawn to him, “Sella here is making the curry.”

That was both worrying and reassuring at the same time.

On one hand, it was worrying because there was what was clearly an Einzbern homunculus preparing a meal, and reassuring in that the boy was prepared to give tasks he wasn’t up to, to others more suited to it.

“Thank you Sella,” she proceeded to thank the homunculus even if she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being served something she wasn’t certain of.

That was certainly one of the disadvantages of finding a reason to want to live when you had finally lost your immortality.

“Hmph,” she found her attention drawn towards the Einzbern master as the girl displayed clear displeasure at the situation, “you should be grateful Onii-chan is so soft… if he wasn’t you would have to find your own food.”

“I know,” she responded without hesitation, just because she was prepared to have to kill him as a fellow master, didn’t mean she was going to ignore how much his hospitality was currently aiding her, “and I thank you for lending your maid to aid him too.”

Of course, with an uninitiated person in the vicinity, she left out any comments about not poisoning her.

That would almost certainly draw some rather serious suspicion after all.

“You should be,” the red eyed girl stated with a frown.

“Illya,” Shirou’s voice called out and the little girl seemed to simply frown even more, “please don’t harass any of my guests.”

The girl simply started to sulk in response to being told off by her adopted brother.

It would probably be cute if she had some suspicions concerning the girl.

After all, white hair and red eyes may have been an indication of Albinism among normal humans, but when an Einzbern was involved, it usually meant a Homunculus.

It was even likely that the only person who didn’t know about that titbit of information was Shirou himself.

But it wasn’t as if it was her place to question the situation.

And so, she simply proceeded to take a seat as she waited for the meal that was to come.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Dinner had been a rather interesting affair as far as Shirou was concerned.

Admittedly, not everyone had appeared before the first batch of people had had their fills, but everyone did eventually trickle in…  with the exceptions of Hans and Avenger.

That the two of them were clearly not normal made him somewhat happy they hadn’t appeared, however, it simply meant that he had to take the meals to their rooms.

Hans unnerved him, everything the boy said seemed to indicate that he knew more about him than he was comfortable with the boy knowing… it was as if he was an open book that the boy could read in an instant.

As for Avenger… Avenger was abrasive.

He had never met anyone who seemed so focused on hating everything as thoroughly as that servant seemed to do.

The malicious grins and killing intent only made staying in the beings vicinity more uncomfortable.

Of course, there was also the issue of Fuji-nee being around.

For all he adored his sister-figure, he didn’t want her to get involved with the mystical side of the world and that meant that Luvia’s attempts at teaching him, Sakura and Gray how to learn new languages the Magus way was being pushed back.

“So… when are you planning on leaving?” said teacher asked the group.

“Well, I am currently working on reclaiming some property that my family owns in this city,” Luvia stated with a practiced ease, “once that is done, they’ll need to be surveyed and have any issues repaired… then I shall move into one of them.”

“And how long will that take?” it was a simple question and Shirou found himself deciding to listen properly.

“I am unsure,” Luvia responded with a sigh, “there are some issues with the organisation we left the properties in the care of… and even then we don’t know how well they’ve been looked after these past seventy years.”

“SEVENTY YEARS!!!”

The rather loud response by his guardian made it clear she hadn’t expected it to be such an old property.

“Yes, my family hasn’t had much interaction with this country since then,” the blonde said without hesitation, “so we left it in the care of an organisation we held close ties to.”

The dazed look in Taiga’s eyes made it clear she was struggling to comprehend the idea.

Maybe she was more surprised that the properties hadn’t simply been sold?

“But for now,” and with a simple raise of her hands, Luvia muttered something under her breath, prompting his legal guardian’s eyes to glaze over.

“What are you doing?” he found himself asking with narrowed eyes.

“I am simply going to send her back to her home,” the girl in blue stated with a calm tone, “we cannot proceed with the lesson until she is gone.”

Shirou found himself releasing a sigh at that.

It was true, but it didn’t mean he liked the fact that she was hypnotizing his sister figure.

“Now, Fujimura Taiga,” the European Magus spoke with a commanding tone, “return to your home and get some sleep.”

Without a seconds hesitation, the brown haired teacher rose from her seated position and started to leave the house.

“And now Shero-kun, Gray and Matou,” she started to talk immediately, “come, you have lessons to attend.”

“And what lessons would those be?” a voice that dripped with suspicion called and Shirou found himself glancing at Rin as she almost glared at the Edelfelt.

“Learning Languages,” Shirou decided to explain before anything could erupt between the two.

“What?” now Rin looked puzzled.

“My dad never taught me how to learn new languages like a Magus,” he told her with a sigh of frustration, “and apparently neither Gray or Sakura have been taught either.”

“So Edelfelt decided to teach you?” he could hear the scepticism dripping from the pigtailed girl’s voice.

“Indeed, the substandard tutelage they have all received in something so basic is something a magus of my calibre cannot overlook,” Luvia’s response seemed to earn a twitch from the other girl.

“Well if that is the case, then you won’t have anything against me supervising  the lessons, will you?” it was obvious that Rin was issuing some sort of challenge if her tone was anything to go by.

“Oh?  You need not concern yourself with such petty concerns,” the girl in blue said without hesitation.

“How about we all just watch,” he found his attention drawn towards the Caster summoned by the Irish magus.

That seemed to draw the attention of everyone in the room.

“What?” both Luvia and Rin sounded surprised by that idea.

“You’re not teaching any of them anything that could be called a secret,” the blue haired man continued before issuing a small grin, “so why not let everyone watch?”

The duo seemed unable to respond to such a suggestion.

Shirou however, found himself deciding to cut down that idea.

“Sorry, but no,” he stated, causing everyone to turn their attention to him, “it will probably make it harder for us if we have to deal with the pressure of a crowd watching.”

“Point,” the first caster said without much delay.

“Yeah… plus, wouldn’t siting around watching them be boring?” he found himself drawn to the Japanese Warlord as she asked that question and found himself agreeing.

“Indeed, watching people learn a new language is boring,” Iskander piped in without hesitation.

“I want to watch though,” Illya’s voice spoke up and he found himself swallowing nervously at that, the idea that his adopted sister wanted to see him try to learn a new language was somewhat intimidating after all.

“Why?” he found himself asking, prompting the girl to give him a bright smile.

“Because I want to see what Onii-chan can do,” she told him and he found himself growing more uncomfortable.

It was one thing to have Luvia, Sakura and Gray witnessing his attempts, since he had an understanding with Luvia, Sakura was someone he trusted almost completely and Gray… Gray seemed so quiet and non-confrontational that he doubted she even had the capacity to mock him about it.

“I too shall attend the lesson,” Saber spoke up firmly and he found himself turning to face his Servant.

“W-why?” he found himself asking in shock.

“So that I can remain close enough to defend you should the need arise,” it was a response he should’ve expected, but he was still struggling to grasp the idea that no one trusted each other.

“I have no issues with Saber attending,” Luvia spoke up without hesitation, “provided she is the only servant attending.”

It was only then that Shirou noted the position of the beautiful woman that had been summoned by Sakura, standing over her in a manner that appeared almost protective.

“It’s all right Rider,” his kouhai told the servant with a soft smile, “senpai won’t hurt me.”

He couldn’t shake the uncertain gaze that was being levelled his way from behind the Servant’s glasses.

Of course, the fact that Sakura was so confident in him despite knowing he was a magus only showed that their trust of each other was a mutual matter even if Sakura hadn’t revealed to him that she was a magus.

To be fair though, he didn’t tell her he was one either.

“I suppose I could accept that servant as well,” the girl that was planning on teaching him stated with a hint of uncertainty, “however, they’re the only two.”

“Then I shall go as well,” the lavender haired woman responded without delay, earning a soft smile off of Sakura in the process.

“Now, is there anywhere in this house suitable as a classroom?” Luvia asked.

“Well, there is the dojo,” he offered, earning a firm nod of acceptance from the European magus.

“Then we shall go there,” she told him without hesitation.

With a nod of his own, Shirou found himself rising from his seated position along with Sakura, Gray, Saber and Illya.

However, he also noted that Tohsaka was rising to follow as well and he found himself focusing on that.

“You don’t need to come Tohsaka,” the blonde said with a hint of annoyance clear in her tone.

“Perhaps,” the school idol responded without hesitation, “but it would be shameful of me to not make sure the magi living in my area are properly educated.”

“Oh?  Then you must be awfully ashamed of their current states, no?” it was clear that the Edelfelt magus was more than happy to poke at that, and given the way Rin seemed to twitch at that remark, he had a feeling she had just gotten one over the other magus.

“T-that’s why I must make certain you’re not giving them substandard teachings,” it was clear to him that Rin wasn’t prepared to admit defeat, but he found himself simply releasing a sigh.

“Sakura, Gray,” he spoke up, drawing the attention of the two others who would be learning with him, “are you all right with Rin watching?”

Sakura looked surprised but nodded, while Gray simply nodded without any real indication she was considering anything.

“Well, it appears that no one is against me observing,” Rin’s voice sounded almost triumphant as she said that.

The fact that Luvia’s expression seemed to darken a little made him decide to ask something that seemed like it might be important.

“Why are you two fighting anyway?” he wanted to know just why they were clashing in the first place, however it wasn’t one of the two girls who spoke.

“Because the Tohsaka and Edelfelt have been feuding for about seventy years now,” Bazett told him without hesitation.

“Really?” he found himself wondering just what the cause of that was.

“Yeah, they had a confrontation during the Third Grail War,” Illya stated with an amused grin, “I heard it was because of one of the heirs of the Edelfelt being defeated in the  Third Grail War by the Tohsaka Master... with the Tohsaka learning the Edelfelts Magecraft after that.”

Shirou found himself blinking at that.

“How would that even work?” he asked, earning a sigh off the little girl.

“Either the Tohsaka master stole the Edelfelts magic crest and all the knowledge stored within,” Waver spoke up and he found himself listening carefully, “or… the defeated Edelfelt married into the Tohsaka and took their knowledge with them.”

Shirou found himself blinking at that.

He wasn’t familiar with the concept of a magic crest so he had no idea how that would work.

But beyond that, looking at Luvia and Rin, he found himself easily believing they were related… both because of how similar their facial structure was and how they seemed to match each other in temperament as well.

“… I can definitely believe they’re cousins,” he found himself admitting out loud.

The way the two girls seemed to almost crack at that admission made it clear he had just said the wrong thing.

“E-E-E-Emiya-kun…” the strain in Rin’s voice was clear and he could see her turning to face him with a strained smile on her face, “why on Earth would you think I am related to that Hyena?”

“Oh?  You think that’s bad?” Luvia seemed to take offense at that question, “imagine how I feel being accused of being related to an uncivilized barbarian like you.”

“Uncivilized?” Rin now seemed even angrier than before, “you think a bloodthirsty scavenger like you has any right to call me uncivilized?”

“H-hey!  That’s enough,” he called out, trying to get both to stop.

“Enough!” and with that one word, both of the teenage girls stopped arguing and simply froze in response.

“Thanks Red,” he found himself thanking Aoko without thinking about it.

“Just try to not get them going again,” she responded even as she continued to sit at the table.

“I’ll try,” he acknowledged, he honestly didn’t want the two to argue again either, “maybe it would be better if Tohsaka stayed here.”

That seemed to earn a twitch from the girl.

“It probably would be more productive if she didn’t go,” Illya spoke and he found himself releasing a sigh at that.

“T-that’s…” the brown haired girl sounded rather put out by the situation.

“Don’t worry about the lessons,” the white haired girl interrupted, “I’ll be able to tell if they’re up to scratch or not.”

That didn’t seem to reassure Rin, but she eventually gave in.

“Fine…” he didn’t understand why she sounded so upset about that, “however, if anything happens, I expect it to be dealt with properly, am I understood?”

“Of course,” the girl in the purple dress responded with a small curtsy even as the group started to move out to the Dojo.

“Sorry Tohsaka,” he decided to say, causing her to jerk slightly at his voice, “ but if you and Luvia get into another fight then that could push us further back.”

The way the girls face seemed to soften at that, made it clear that she was placated by that explanation.

“It’s fine,” she responded, “I will just stay here for now.”

And with one last smile towards the girl, he left the room.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Rin couldn’t stop herself from internally screaming at herself.

She had almost completely destroyed any chance she may have had with the one boy in their entire school that she found herself actually interested in.

Not that it was hard, the only real competition he had was Issei, who hated her due to ungodly instincts and Shinji… the less that was said about _him_ the better.

She honestly had no idea how Emiya-kun could possibly be friends with that delusional bastard.

The fact that she had recently discovered he was already aware of the supernatural world only made her previous misgivings about him die down.

But here she was, invited to have dinner at Emiya-kun’s house and she had ended up letting her long standing family rivalry with the Edelfelt to get the way.

“Well… that was amusing,” Lord El-Melloi said with a smile tugging at his lips.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked him with narrowed eyes.

“You’re really not that good at hiding it you know,” the man continued and she found her ire growing.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, ready to deny whatever the Clock Tower Teacher said.

“Your crush on Emiya,” she was however, caught flat-footed when it _wasn’t_ Lord El-Melloi who spoke up.

“Wha-?!” she didn’t know how to respond when the person who spoke was none other The Blue herself.

“It’s pretty obvious,” the red haired woman continued without hesitation, “especially with how focused on let leaving him alone with Luvia you are”

If it had been anyone else speaking right now, she would’ve been arguing, denying every claim made about her.

But that was The Blue herself.

She wasn’t prepared to pick a fight with a person considered to have power on par with Dead Apostle Ancestors and Servants.

“Yeah, though I think you’ve got some stiff competition if you want him,” Lord El-Melloi said and she found her eyes narrowing at him.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked with a note of warning clear in her tone.

“That Matou girl is definitely after him too,” the man said and she found herself blinking… for a second she thought he was talking about Edelfelt, “and given how comfortable they are around each other, I think she’s got a pretty good shot at him.”

She found herself unsure of what to think about that.

On one hand, the idea that she had competition was annoying, but on the other hand, if anyone deserved to have something good happen to them then it was probably Sakura.

However, she wasn’t prepared to let anyone know that.

“It doesn’t matter,” she stated as bluntly as she could, “you are mistaken about all of this anyway.”

“Heh,” she found her attention drawn towards her own Servant as he outright chuckled at her declaration, “the only people you’re fooling are yourself and the boy himself.”

She found her irritation only growing further when she noted the way everyone in the room agreed, with the exception of the two Homunculi and Sion’s Lancer, who seemed to be completely unconcerned about the conversation full stop.

Honestly, the mere fact that even the servants who acted like morons nodded in agreement made it even more insulting.

“Just… just shut up,” she commanded, causing her Archer’s smirk to grow even more amused.

“You know, there’s nothing wrong with being interested in a guy,” she found herself once again focusing on The Blue as she spoke up.

“I’m not interested,” she tried to argue, but it was clear that no one believed her.

“You should probably shut up before you dig your hole any deeper master,” her servant claimed and she found herself gritting her teeth in even more irritation than before.

However, she found she couldn’t truly argue with her servant’s logic on this matter.

And so, she decided to stop fighting it and simply sit down.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Gray wasn’t sure what to think as the group entered the Dojo.

The mere fact that Luvia was going to teach her something her master hadn’t was strange, but then again, she was used to only being taught by her master.

The fact that she was going to be learning beside a couple of relative strangers was also strange, even if both Shirou and Sakura seemed like really nice people.

The white haired girl named Illya was also an interesting person to have watching, mainly because she hadn’t seen many people with that colour of hair and eyes even during her time in London.

“Now, the first thing we must go over,” Luvia started to speak and she found her attention moving towards the blonde haired magus, “is the process of using magecraft, Shero, can you tell me what is required before you can actualize a mystery?”

The expression on the boy’s face made it clear he was lost by what the girl in blue said, at least until the purple haired girl said something to him in Japanese.

“Oh…” he said as a look of realization crossed his face and he spoke again, “it needs you to have a strong image in your head.”

“And what is used to put that image in your head?” it was a simple question but it was obvious that Shirou hadn’t been trained properly if his questioning stare was anything to go by.

“Uh… an Aria?” he responded, before frowning, “wait… no… the Aria is just the trigger for the image…”

The boy seemed to think for several more seconds before he came up with an new answer.

“A form of Self Hypnosis triggered by the Aria?” he was clearly unsure in his answer as he sounded like he was asking a question more than answering one.

“Correct,” the Edelfelt Magus said without hesitation, “and that is the magi’s method of learning a new language.”

Gray found herself frowning at that.

Shirou however answered once more.

“Do you mean we hypnotize ourselves to learn a new language?” he sounded somewhat confused, but the nod in acknowledgement made it clear he was correct.

“Correct,” Luvia said before continuing, “a magus learns new languages not by practice, but by using their experience with self-hypnosis to create associations within their minds that can be accessed at a moments notice.”

“So we use hypnosis to connect words?” he asked only to receive a shake in the negative from the Finnish magus.

“No, you use hypnosis to connect the words to the concepts that they represent themselves,” that statement made her frown, but Luviagelita continued, “that way, there is no delay in thought processes when speaking that language.”

Huh… if that was the case then it would make some sense.

However…

“Excuse me,” she decided to speak up, causing Luvia to turn to her and nod, “but if we do that, then won’t we get our languages mixed up?”

The nod she received for that question made it clear it was a legitimate question.

“If they were simply unorganized then that would indeed be the case,” the Finnish blonde said without hesitation, “however, that is why you assign them to an overarching mindset that you can switch to whenever you need to speak that language.”

“So we’d need to trigger the mindset if we want to understand the language?” Shirou asked and Luvia simply shook her head.

“Not quite, since it is simply a different set of associations as opposed to something powerful like a magecraft image, simply hearing the language should act as a trigger to change to that mindset,” it was a rather simple explanation but it was clear enough for Shirou to understand if his nod of acknowledgement was anything to go by.

“Now, I’m not sure who will have a harder time learning here,” Luvia stated and she found herself wondering just what she meant, “on one hand, if Gray wishes to learn how to read Japanese then that will require a lot of associations to be created due to the systems used to write it… however, both Shirou and Sakura will have to learn how to speak far more syllables than they ever learned in this country.”

That made her confused.

“What do you mean?” she decided to ask, hoping for some clarification on the matter.

“Japanese Kanji takes a long time to learn due to the sheer number of symbols there are,” the blonde magus said before continuing, “however the number of syllables in Japanese is only about one hundred… while English has over ten thousand.”

That… was a massive difference.

“That is why Shero and Sakura have so much trouble speaking English fluently,” the girl in blue continued, “they were simply not taught to make most of the syllables available to a native speaker.”

That made sense.

“So the main issue Shero and Sakura will have is learning how to form the appropriate syllables when speaking,” and with that finalized, Luvia addressed the group as a whole.

“Now, I believe we have spent enough time with the explanations of how you will be learning,” her voice was filled with a confidence that was perfectly normal for her, “now it is time to teach you how to learn.”

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Almost everything was wrong.

That was the only real thought that went through the head of Counter Guardian EMIYA as he sat in the corner.

His summoning was wrong, in that it actually went right for a change… and beyond that, he had been summoned directly in front of Gilgamesh and ten magi, some of who already had servants at their call.

He recognized them of course, one of the advantages of the Unlimited Blade Works was the knowledge it granted him post mortem, so he knew who all the other servants were, if not because of already having the weapons stored in it, but due to having recorded meeting them in alternate universes or timelines where he was summoned.

Or at least, his ability was.

Naturally he found himself hiding that knowledge, after all, he doubted any of them would appreciate having the identities of their servants revealed by a stranger.

Plus, it would raise the question of how he knew who they were in the first place.

Beyond everything though, the mere fact that Gilgamesh was creating an organisation to _protect_ humanity was outright anathema to what he remembered of the arrogant king.

But here it was, happening right before his eyes, while everything else was twisted out of the shape of a Grail War and into something alien to a universe he stemmed from.

At least there were some consistencies between the worlds.

Namely that it seemed the Rin and Sakura of this world maintained their crushes on his younger self, Luvia too seemed to be growing fond of his younger self at an astounding rate even for him, Illya was still his adopted sister and Saber was still Kiritsugu’s old Servant.

Oh, and Bazett still summoned Cu Chulainn, even if he ended up as a Caster instead of as a Lancer.

That would make fighting him annoying.

The Irish Hero may have been stronger as a Lancer, but he was better equipped to beat him as a Caster, simply due to the variety of abilities he was capable of with his ancient runes.

In the end though, he doubted a new Grail War would erupt.

Mainly because Gilgamesh wouldn’t bother wasting his time if this wasn’t genuine.

It didn’t stop the situation from being strange though.

There was just the question of what he should do concerning the other version of himself.

It was plausible that they’d synchronize if they were both around too long even with the presence of the servant bonds trying to prevent that.

But was this version of him going to suffer the same as he did?

He had no support after all, and here, here his younger self had a more permanent connection to Saber, along with an organisation that was being collected by someone else for a purpose that matched his goals.

Was it possible that this other version of himself _wouldn’t_ suffer like he had?

 Only time would tell.

 

XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX

 

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from releasing a tired sigh as they finished up their lessons for the night.

Learning how to form new syllables was hard, that much was for certain, but Luvia at least showed a level of patience he would not expect from the girl.

She had certainly looked like she was about to lose her cool, but she always managed to swallow it down and explain things in a simpler and more concise manner.

He was still a long way from being truly fluent in the language, but he was at least managing to ingrain the memories of syllables he’d never formed before in his head.

“Well, I suppose that didn’t go as badly as it could’ve,” the girl in blue said even as they rose from their positions with numb legs.

“Sorry,” he found himself apologizing, causing the girl to blink.

“There is nothing to apologize for,” she proclaimed calmly, “not everyone can learn new languages in such a short span of time.”

He immediately thought of Sakura and how she was simply progressing so much faster than he was even after such a short time frame.

“Yeah…” he acknowledged even as he felt himself progressing too slowly for his liking.

As the group left the Dojo and started to make their way back towards the living room, Shirou found his attention drawn to a couple of shadowy figures resting quite some distance from each other.

One was clearly the regal Lancer summoned by Ciel, his spear nowhere to be seen.

The other was a person he found himself wanting to have minimal contact with.

Avenger.

At least it was dark out, so they weren’t standing out like a neon signs.

He did however decide to do what he could to ignore their presence as he walked back into the house and saw that Illya and Rin were still there.

“Oh… hey,” he found himself greeting them in surprise, “I wasn’t expecting you to still be here.”

He found himself admitting, but he earned a couple of scoffs off the girls.

“It would be rude to leave without first thanking you for your hospitality,” Rin’s response made him blink before a grimace crossed his face.

“Ah, sorry,” he hadn’t thought about how spending so long learning would affect the others but it seemed it had done just that.

“And I want my goodnight hug!” Illya spoke with a bit more enthusiasm and he found himself deflating as he found himself giving in without too much hassle.

“All right then, come here Illya-chan,” with little more in the way of actions, he proceeded to move towards the girl who now moved to meet him before wrapping both of his arms around her gently, “now, when you get home, be sure to go straight to bed… okay?”

He noted the way the girls face was slowly flushing at that, but dismissed it.

It was probably one of very few times she had been treated like a normal girl.

“O-okay… can I come by tomorrow Onii-chan?” the girl asked and he found himself letting out a soft smile as she looked up at him.

“Of course,” he conceded without hesitation, earning a radiant smile off the white haired girl.

“And I will probably see you at some point too Emiya-kun,” Tohsaka said and he found himself swallowing nervously at that.

After all, this was Tohsaka Rin talking about seeing him again.

Sure it was only as fellow masters and magi, but it was still not something he had expected just two days ago.

“Yeah,” he acknowledged her statement before noting Sakura move past him.

“Goodbye Senpai,” the girl that had been helping him so much said even as her Servant followed, “see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you for all your help today Sakura,” he chose to thank her without hesitation, “and yours as well Sella.”

The maid that had helped him with the cooking merely blinked in response before offering a small bow.

“Well, see you later Onii-chan!” and with that said, the group that were not staying the night proceeded to leave.

Now he just had to get some magecraft practice in before bed.

“All right then,” he said without any hesitation, “I’m going to go and work on my magecraft and then go to bed.”

“Heh, well then, let’s see what you’ve got,” he found his eyes widening as the blue haired Irishman spoke up in response to his claim.

“W-wait!  Caster, you were serious?!” Bazett asked her servant with wide eyes.

“Hey, it’s nothing much, just some basic stuff,” the man responded, “I said it before, he has an interesting scent.”

Shirou found himself confused by that.

“I… I see…” the woman who was still wearing a business suit responded uncertainly.

“Now Shirou,” the man continued with a small smirk gracing his lips, “let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> And that is all for now.  
> Shadow Out.


End file.
